nolock on a temp table in SQL Server 2008

Question

Does adding with (Nolock) reduce contention when selecting from temp tables, or is SQL Server smart enough to not create contention on temp tables in the first place?

PS: Yes I am aware of the dangers of READUNCOMMITTED.

select * from #myTempTable

vs

select * from #myTempTable with (nolock) --is this faster?

Answer 1

You can use trace flag 1200 (on a development machine as I think this is global) to see the locks taken out for yourself

SET NOCOUNT ON;

CREATE TABLE ##T
(
X INT
)

INSERT INTO ##T 
SELECT number
FROM master..spt_values

CREATE TABLE #T
(
X INT
)
INSERT INTO #T
SELECT *
FROM ##T

/*Run the commands first with the trace flag off so the locking
info is less full of irrelevant stuff about plan compilation 
*/
GO

PRINT '##T Read Committed'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ##T
PRINT '##T NOLOCK'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ##T WITH (NOLOCK)
PRINT '##T Finished'

GO

PRINT '#T Read Committed'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM #T
PRINT '#T NOLOCK'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM #T WITH (NOLOCK)
PRINT '#T Finished'

GO

DBCC TRACEON(-1,3604)
DBCC TRACEON(-1,1200)

GO

PRINT '##T Read Committed'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ##T
PRINT '##T NOLOCK'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ##T WITH (NOLOCK)
PRINT '##T Finished'

GO

PRINT '#T Read Committed'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM #T
PRINT '#T NOLOCK'
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM #T WITH (NOLOCK)
PRINT '#T Finished'

GO

DBCC TRACEOFF(-1,3604)
DBCC TRACEOFF(-1,1200)

DROP TABLE ##T
DROP TABLE #T

For a global temp table it unsurprisingly makes more of a difference.

There is still a small difference in type of lock for local #temp tables though. I reproduce that part of the output below

#T Read Committed
Process 56 acquiring IS lock on OBJECT: 2:301244128:0  (class bit0 ref1) result: OK

Process 56 acquiring S lock on OBJECT: 2:301244128:0  (class bit0 ref1) result: OK

Process 56 releasing lock on OBJECT: 2:301244128:0 

#T NOLOCK
Process 56 acquiring Sch-S lock on OBJECT: 2:301244128:0  (class bit0 ref1) result: OK

Process 56 acquiring S lock on HOBT: 2:9079256880114171904 [BULK_OPERATION] (class bit0 ref1) result: OK

Process 56 releasing lock on OBJECT: 2:301244128:0 

Edit: The above results are for a heap. For temp tables with a clustered index the results are below.

#T Read Committed
Process 55 acquiring IS lock on OBJECT: 2:1790629422:0  (class bit0 ref1) result: OK

Process 55 acquiring S lock on OBJECT: 2:1790629422:0  (class bit0 ref1) result: OK

Process 55 releasing lock on OBJECT: 2:1790629422:0 

#T NOLOCK
Process 55 acquiring Sch-S lock on OBJECT: 2:1790629422:0  (class bit0 ref1) result: OK

Process 55 releasing lock on OBJECT: 2:1790629422:0 

#T Finished

The reason for the BULK_OPERATION lock on the heap version is explained here. But it can be seen that the locking overhead is pretty minimal whatever.