Does anyone know how I can accurately measure preview and file render times other than a stop watch? I know the Premiere Pro benchmark does this, but I'm trying to figure out the gains I will get with different settings for my own projects and wanted to know if there is any way to accurately capture this information or find it somewhere within the software.
There's no data base you can go to for this info. You really just need to watch the screen.
Run short tests - 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. That way you're not waiting forever for an export to finish.