Are you REALLY REALLY REALLY sure the code is the same on both servers?!?! :Whistling:

I was just looking for some simple action on the column, like a mod or some such. Just to make sure the engine has to touch and do something with the column to get it more similar to what is going on when the UDF is in play.

You cannot control the memory grant for a single query to my knowledge. Sure would be nice occasionally. Oh how I pine for the days of SQL Server 6.5!! MORE KNOBS I SAY!! 😀