
That's a lot of vertices! IIRC, there's a limit on the poly count of objects ~10k faces, I think. Remember, you are trying to create the "illusion" of reality. You can fake A LOT with textures. Most likely, you could the helix' down from 14k, to perhaps 7k (or less) - and not lose enough detail to notice.

If you haven't used it yet, Blender has a decimate modifier. It's really helpful, as it maintains the original shape of the object - while reducing the vert count.
Otherwise, looks good! Keep it up.
