This is a very informative thread! I am dealing with a similar issue and according to your specs, my avg disk writes and reads are off the charts! They are pegging 100 for extended periods. We are running separate spindles for data files, system files, and log files on a SAN and we still see performance hits on a production db. I too have been monitoring the checkpoint in sysprocesses and ours hangs around 274125 in disk io and 418625 in cpu. This stays at this level throughout the day. Does this indicate poor disk setup?