Number of Columns and Update - Mailing list pgsql-performance

From Robert DiFalco
Subject Number of Columns and Update
Date
Msg-id CAAXGW-xXFDWHEBJExt40bWD1+vOo6_UbytCUjEe625GqBXmxUA@mail.gmail.com
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Responses Re: Number of Columns and Update
Re: Number of Columns and Update
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This may fall into the category of over-optimization but I've become curious.

I have a user table with about 14 columns that are all 1:1 data - so they can't be normalized.

When I insert a row all columns need to be set. But when I update, I sometimes only update 1-2 columns at a time. Does the number of columns impact update speed?

For example:
     UPDATE users SET email = ? WHERE id = ?;

I can easily break this up into logical tables like user_profile, user_credential, user_contact_info, user_summary, etc with each table only having 1-4 columns. But with the multiple tables I would often be joining them to bring back a collection of columns. 

I know I'm over thinking this but I'm curious of what the performance trade offs are for breaking up a table into smaller logically grouped tables.

Thanks.

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