Re: slow query performance

From: Matthew Wakeling <matthew(at)flymine(dot)org>
To: Kenneth Marshall <ktm(at)rice(dot)edu>
Cc: Anj Adu <fotographs(at)gmail(dot)com>, Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com>, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>, Andy Colson <andy(at)squeakycode(dot)net>, pgsql-performance(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: slow query performance
Date: 2010-06-11 13:49:15
Message-ID: alpine.DEB.2.00.1006111434590.4083@aragorn.flymine.org
Views: Raw Message | Whole Thread | Download mbox | Resend email
Thread:
Lists: pgsql-performance

On Fri, 11 Jun 2010, Kenneth Marshall wrote:
> If you check the archives, you will see that this is not easy
> to do because of the effects of caching.

Indeed. If you were to take the value at completely face value, a modern
hard drive is capable of transferring sequential pages somewhere between
40 and 100 times faster than random pages, depending on the drive.

However, caches tend to favour index scans much more than sequential
scans, so using a value between 40 and 100 would discourage Postgres from
using indexes when they are really the most appropriate option.

Matthew

--
A. Top Posters
> Q. What's the most annoying thing in the world?

In response to

Browse pgsql-performance by date

  From Date Subject
Next Message Kevin Grittner 2010-06-11 15:25:15 Re: Query about index usage
Previous Message Kenneth Marshall 2010-06-11 13:28:17 Re: slow query performance