How much does subdivision affect render time?

[it_refplus]

I'm wondering how much does subdivision affect render time. Let's say I need a rounded corner, is it better to have 16 or 24 polygons for a smoother corner or to have only 3 and use subdivision to smooth it out? Which one will take less time to render?

[Buck]

this wouldn't take you very long to test

[it_refplus]

I tried a cube with 36 fillet subdivisions and it took longer to render than with subdivision surface. With 24 fillet subdivisions it was the same and with 12 fillet subdivisions, the one with subdivision surface took a bit longer. So for very smooth surfaces, it's faster with subdivision surface.