I'd like to know thoughts on this as well for myself. I'm migrating to a 4-dual core-64-bit CPU machine with 64 GB ram. Currently on a 4-("single core")-32-bit CPU machine, where SGA is 1456 MB (just below the max). Our database holds over 830 GB, is a hybrid of OLTP and bulk-loaded data. Currently most of the OLTP users are in-house customer service people and marketing. Eventually we'll be deploying a customer portal and obviously expect more connections then. Don. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l