My current system specs:
Alienware 17 laptop i7 2.4Ghz quad-core CPU, 16 Gb RAM, NVidia GeForce 765M 2Gb VRAM(the system was purchased back in 2013).
How long does it take you folks to render just a simple character in CC3? I rendered a Genesis 8 character in Daz 3D and it took 25 minutes!!! No props, additional lighting, or anything like that. Just shoulder-length hair and a simple tank top & shorts, /w an "infinite dome". The irises and surrounding portions within the eyes came out kind of grainy/speckled, so I'm guessing I really need to add sufficient lighting of some kind prior to rendering. I'm thinking of trying 9 lights total, arranged in sets of 3 differing in height by 70 units: 3 in front, 3 on the left, and 3 on the right. I figure the more lighting, the less complex the shadowing. I'll have to do some more experimenting, but I'm guessing its the graphics card and CPU slowing things down. Daz was running the CPU like crazy during the rendering process.

Which would be better for this kind of work:
Intel Z370 system /w Intel Core i7-8700K (6-Core) 3.70GHz, 16 Gb RAM, GeForce GTX 1080 8GB VRAM
or
Intel X299 system /w Intel Core i7-7820X (8-Core) 3.60GHz(with possibility to upgrade to higher# cores CPU), 16 Gb RAM, GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb VRAM.