As always, there is the answer, then the modifiers :)
If you have an account sufficient to run Links SQL, that means reasonable CPU, reasonable disk space, and access to MySQL, then it will be faster, and actually use _less_ system resources than a large flat-file database.
BUT... you need more resources to set the system up. The flat file system runs on almost any account, until it gets big, but Links SQL has certain minimum requirements that you can check out on the product page.
If you have the ability to run under mod_perl (dedicated server) or using SpeedyCGI (especially for jump.cgi and search.cgi) then you can cut your resource usage way down, increase peformance, and develop a larger directory than possible with the flat file version.
Looked at another way, you need a machine this big [ - - ] to run the flat file version, but you need a machine this big [ - - - - ] to run the SQL version, but the machine big enough to run the SQL version will run a much, much larger directory -- possibly 10x or 50x larger than the flat file version, because of the improved code, but mostly because of the efficiency of an SQL/relational database written in optimized C/C++ to handle the file accesses :)
PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
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