Originally posted by spbraja
Also, the count(acntid) in my query would be a bit faster than ur count(*).
No it wouldn't!

This topic has been discussed and coverred zillion of times here and elsewhere, and the obvious conclusion is: "performance wise COUNT(*) = COUNT(NULL) = COUNT(any_constant) = COUNT(primary_key) = COUNT(rowid) = COUNT(anything_you_like)".