SQL Server nvarchar(max) vs nvarchar(n) afeta o desempenho

Este é o SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2. Eu tenho 2 mesas. Ambos são idênticos (dados e indexação), exceto que a primeira tabela tem uma coluna VALUE como nvarchar(max)e a segunda tem a mesma coluna que nvarchar(800). Esta coluna está incluída em um índice não clusterizado. Também criei um índice clusterizado em ambas as tabelas. Eu também reconstruí os índices. O comprimento máximo da string nesta coluna é 650.

Se eu executar a mesma consulta em ambas, a nvarchar(800)tabela será consistentemente mais rápida, muitas vezes duas vezes mais rápida. Claro que parece que está derrotando o propósito de "varchar". A tabela contém mais de 800.000 linhas. A consulta deve examinar cerca de 110.000 linhas (que é o que o plano estima).

De acordo com as estatísticas io, não há leituras de lob, então tudo parece estar em ordem. Os planos de execução são os mesmos, exceto que há uma pequena diferença na porcentagem de custo entre as duas tabelas e o tamanho estimado da linha é maior com nvarchar(max)(91 bytes vs 63 bytes). O número de leituras também é praticamente o mesmo.

Por que a diferença?

===== Esquema ====

 CREATE TABLE [dbo].[table1](
        [ID] [bigint] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
        [ProductID] [bigint] NOT NULL,
        [ProductSkeletonID] [bigint] NOT NULL,
        [Value] [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL,
        [IsKeywordSearchable] [bit] NULL,
        [ValueInteger] [bigint] NULL,
        [ValueDecimal] [decimal](18, 2) NULL,
        [ValueDate] [datetime] NULL,
        [TypeOfData] [nvarchar](20) NOT NULL,
     CONSTRAINT [PK_table1] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
    (
        [ID] ASC
    )WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
    ) ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]

    CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_table1_productskeletonid] ON [dbo].[table1] 
    (
        [ProductSkeletonID] ASC
    )
    INCLUDE ( [ProductID],
    [Value]) WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF, ONLINE = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]

    CREATE TABLE [dbo].[table2](
        [ID] [bigint] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
        [ProductID] [bigint] NOT NULL,
        [ProductSkeletonID] [bigint] NOT NULL,
        [Value] [nvarchar](800) NOT NULL,
        [IsKeywordSearchable] [bit] NULL,
        [ValueInteger] [bigint] NULL,
        [ValueDecimal] [decimal](18, 2) NULL,
        [ValueDate] [datetime] NULL,
        [TypeOfData] [nvarchar](20) NOT NULL,
     CONSTRAINT [PK_table2] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
    (
        [ID] ASC
    )WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
    ) ON [PRIMARY]

    CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_table2_productskeletonid] ON [dbo].[table2] 
    (
        [ProductSkeletonID] ASC
    )
    INCLUDE ( [ProductID],
    [Value]) WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF, ONLINE = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]


CREATE TABLE [dbo].[table_results](
    [SearchID] [bigint] NOT NULL,
    [RowNbr] [int] NOT NULL,
    [ProductID] [bigint] NOT NULL,
    [PermissionList] [varchar](250) NULL,
    [SearchWeight] [int] NULL,
 CONSTRAINT [PK_table_results] PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED 
(
    [SearchID] ASC,
    [RowNbr] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_table_results_SearchID] ON [dbo].[cart_product_searches_results] 
(
    [SearchID] ASC
)
INCLUDE ( [ProductID]) WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF, ONLINE = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]

======= Tabela1 consulta ====

    SELECT cppev.ProductSkeletonID, cppev.Value, COUNT(*) AS Value FROM table1 cppev
    JOIN search_results cpsr ON cppev.ProductID = cpsr.ProductID AND cpsr.SearchID = 227568 
    WHERE cppev.ProductSkeletonID in (3191, 3160, 3158, 3201)
    GROUP BY cppev.ProductSkeletonID, cppev.Value

    Table 'Worktable'. Scan count 0, logical reads 0, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.
    Table 'table1'. Scan count 4, logical reads 582, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.
    Table 'table_results'. Scan count 1, logical reads 82, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.

    SQL Server Execution Times:
       CPU time = 1373 ms,  elapsed time = 1576 ms.

 |--Compute Scalar(DEFINE:([Expr1005]=CONVERT_IMPLICIT(int,[Expr1008],0)))
       |--Stream Aggregate(GROUP BY:([cppev].[Value], [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]) DEFINE:([Expr1008]=Count(*)))
            |--Sort(ORDER BY:([cppev].[Value] ASC, [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID] ASC))
                 |--Hash Match(Inner Join, HASH:([cpsr].[ProductID])=([cppev].[ProductID]), RESIDUAL:([dbo].[table1].[ProductID] as [cppev].[ProductID]=[dbo].[table_results].[ProductID] as [cpsr].[ProductID]))
                      |--Index Seek(OBJECT:([dbo].[table_results].[IX_table_results_SearchID] AS [cpsr]), SEEK:([cpsr].[SearchID]=(227568)) ORDERED FORWARD)
                      |--Index Seek(OBJECT:([dbo].[table1].[IX_table1_productskeletonid] AS [cppev]), SEEK:([cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3158) OR [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3160) OR [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3191) OR [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3201)) ORDERED FORWARD)

======= Tabela2 consulta ====

    SELECT cppev.ProductSkeletonID, cppev.Value, COUNT(*) AS Value FROM table2 cppev
    JOIN table_results cpsr ON cppev.ProductID = cpsr.ProductID AND cpsr.SearchID = 227568 
    WHERE cppev.ProductSkeletonID in (3191, 3160, 3158, 3201)
    GROUP BY cppev.ProductSkeletonID, cppev.Value

    Table 'Worktable'. Scan count 0, logical reads 0, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.
    Table 'table2'. Scan count 4, logical reads 584, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.
    Table 'table_results'. Scan count 1, logical reads 82, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.

    SQL Server Execution Times:
       CPU time = 484 ms,  elapsed time = 796 ms.

  |--Compute Scalar(DEFINE:([Expr1005]=CONVERT_IMPLICIT(int,[Expr1008],0)))
       |--Stream Aggregate(GROUP BY:([cppev].[Value], [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]) DEFINE:([Expr1008]=Count(*)))
            |--Sort(ORDER BY:([cppev].[Value] ASC, [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID] ASC))
                 |--Hash Match(Inner Join, HASH:([cpsr].[ProductID])=([cppev].[ProductID]), RESIDUAL:([auctori_core_v40_D].[dbo].[table2].[ProductID] as [cppev].[ProductID]= [dbo].[table2].[ProductID] as [cpsr].[ProductID]))
                      |--Index Seek(OBJECT:([dbo].[table_results].[IX_table_results_SearchID] AS [cpsr]), SEEK:([cpsr].[SearchID]=(227568)) ORDERED FORWARD)
                      |--Index Seek(OBJECT:([dbo].[table2].[IX_table2_productskeletonid] AS [cppev]), SEEK:([cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3158) OR [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3160) OR [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3191) OR [cppev].[ProductSkeletonID]=(3201)) ORDERED FORWARD)