Not necessarily.  The bicubic patch doesn't convert directly into a mesh
object.  The mesh object uses a slightly different bounding box tree to
subdivide the mesh for fast intersections.  Because of the nature of
the triangles created by a bicubic patch, it is very easy to subdivide
them into a bounding-sphere tree (a quad-tree) for quick access.  Therefore
render time might actually be faster for the bicubic patch than for a
general triangle mesh.

-Nathan

Mike wrote:
> 
> > Anyone know if the render speed of a bicubic patch (type 1) is faster or
> > slower than a mesh?
> 
> Provided the mesh has the same subdivision as the patch will produce based on u and
v
> steps, the render time will be the same minus the time it takes the bicubic patch to
> parse.
> 
> -Mike

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