shahgols (5/7/2014)
... the execution plan cost is down 2/3...
Which is a meaningless measure. The costs within execution plans are only applicable within themselves. I would never compare execution plan cost to execution plan cost (well, not any more, the original version of my book suggested that was a good idea in a couple of places, but it was wrong).
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning