> without ORDER BY database returns first 15 rows where predicate is > true. With ORDER BY the database has to find all rows where predicate > is true and then has to sort it. So first case can be a much faster > because there are not necessary full table scan. Right. Essentialy, the ORDER BY happens before the LIMIT (so you have to sort everything before you take the first 15). If it were the other way around, you would take the first 15 rows Postgres happens to find (in an arbitrary order) and then sort these 15, which is probably not that useful. Consider Thom's suggestion. --- Maciek Sakrejda | System Architect | Truviso 1065 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Suite 215 Foster City, CA 94404 (650) 242-3500 Main www.truviso.com -- Sent via pgsql-performance mailing list (pgsql-performance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-performance
