poing lighting isn't good in bulk because each point light creates 6 different shadow maps... two for each axis, one in each direction. try spotlights with a high angle like 179...

depending on the complexity of your scene and other factors of your render (raytracing? mental ray? final gather? reflections/refractions?, etc) it may just be a tough thing to render... if you posted a pic i can't see it. stupid work-related thing.

also video cards only help in viewport while in maya and with hardware rendering. they don't help with software rendering OR mental ray. that's all pure processor/RAM.