yeah don't use so many photons...
maybe you can look at the tutorials that are all about 'faking' global illumination. haven't actually read them myself but they exist and give faster results than using global illumination
switching to a 64bit shouldn't make a different to the running time.
in fact it does depend on what you mean by faster
maya will still perform the same operations on the new system with better hardware than it did with the old one.
it might take less time but it still works at the same speed. (am i confusing you yet?)
but in terms of the time that it takes to complete a render changing from 32 to 64 probably wont make a difference, mainly because you're using a 32bit version of maya
that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"
Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D