Alan and Vlad, You guys seem to be right that this hint only supports a few parameters and MRBC is not one of them. At least I am not able to force the optimizer to scan a table with larger MRBC with this hint. ________________________________ From: Vlad Sadilovskiy [mailto:vlovsky@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 1:24 PM To: Brandon.Allen@xxxxxxxxxxx Cc: Hameed, Amir; oracle-l Subject: Re: db_file_multiblock_read_count Brandon is right it needs to be tested. I've just gotten from the 11g and this didn't work for the MBRC, exactly as mentioned in the Docs: "The OPT_PARAM hint lets you set an initialization parameter for the duration of the current query only. This hint is valid only for the following parameters: OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING , OPTIMIZER_INDEX_CACHING, OPTIMIZER_INDEX_COST_ADJ, OPTIMIZER_SECURE_VIEW_MERGING, and STAR_TRANSFORMATION_ENABLED. " Vlad Sadilovskiy Oracle Database Tools Web site: http://www.fourthelephant.com <http://www.fourthelephant.com/> Blog: http://vsadilovskiy.wordpress.com <http://vsadilovskiy.wordpress.com/> On 11/7/07, Allen, Brandon <Brandon.Allen@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I haven't tested it but I think you can use the opt_param hint. It's available in 10.2, but not documented - however it is covered in the 11g documentation: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b28286/sql_eleme nts006.htm#BABEBAID Regards, Brandon Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message or attachments hereto. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of this company shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l