I'm running 8.1.6.2.

I can't believe you're still running 7.x. You poor soul :) - you're too good a dba to be stuck maintaining an antique :(

Interesting info, again - Thank you.

My cache definitely should not be very empty - I am running 700-statement tests all the time. And these statements hit all of the big tables in my database (24,22,21,20 Million rows, etc.). So though the box is only mine, I do at least try to give it a workout now and then :). I'll have to start looking at the V$BH view to get better aquainted with the actual workings of the cache.

What you say makes sense, though - wouldn't be terribly prudent to try to pull a 2G table into cache, for example, so some kind of re-use is obviously necessary - I just need to figure out how that jives with my observed behavior.

Thanks again for the excellent info,

- Chris

BTW - I'm thinking MSDWSAM123 got a whole lot more info that he was counting on :)