Paul White (7/2/2009)
You should disregard the estimated cost percentages when looking at plans - they are wildly inaccurate much of the time (for good reasons).
And they are always wildly inaccurate when there are scalar UDFs involved, because SQL estimates 0% for the udf execution, regardless of what it does.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability