Comprehensive explanation of Cycles Performance tab options anywhere?

I’ve spent several hours today reading posts in this forum, watching youtube vids, and reading articles elsewhere and I still don’t completely understand the different combinations.

Many of the references that I have found are several years old and no longer seem cogent.

I’ve also experimented with the options on my current project but have not been able to confirm that any of the various options reduce my render times at all.

Does anyone know of a comprehensive explanation, with examples, that I could consult?

Background:

I am old, feeble, and infirm. :slight_smile:
Rendering in Cycles
Scene is camera fly through of not complex interior (multiple lighting sources, including sun through windows, skylights)
576 samples Final Render,Path Tracing, Direct Light, Clamp at 1 & 2, 256x256 Tile size
Rendering GPU on Geforce 660 GTX and 780 Ti
Single animation frame rendering at 9+ min

Hi, it is very hard to say without the .blend.
To many settings influence rendertime/noise.
For example: Do you use portal simulation with area lights for your windows?
Please upload the file here or on http://www.pasteall.org/blend/ if it is to heavy.

Cheers, mib
EDIT: Do use enough tiles to keep the 780Ti busy?
Take a look here: http://adaptivesamples.com/2013/09/11/auto-tile-size-addon/