After effects cc render time issues
I usually export as a ProRes Quicktime movie from After Effects directly, then convert my ProRes file to h264.  I keep the ProRes as a master file, and compress the h264 as needed.  Also sometimes restarting AE before rendering fixes any slowdowns.  If the particles are using large (greater than 200x200 pixel) layers for their textures, this will make things render very slowly.