[GENERAL] fsync performance impact

Thought some would like to see a little quatitative data on the impact of running
with the -F flag...

Test case: Using psql via stdin to load 5,238 inserts of the following form:

INSERT INTO exchange_rate
( from_currency_id, to_currency_id, rate, start_time)
VALUES
(150,164, 6.01500000, '09/04/1999');

Platform: RH6.1, 2.2.12-20smp, dual P3 600Mhz, 1 Gb RAM, 3 10K rpm scsi drives
in software raid.

Without -F, it loaded in 228 seconds (~23 inserts/sec).
With -F, it loaded in 10 seconds (~524 inserts/sec).

2200% boost...

Remember this performance boost comes at the expense of increased risk of data
loss in the event of a system crash.

Cheers,
Ed Loehr