Primary keys can give a better performance. Because primary key and unique indexes/key garantees uniqueness. Sql server can use this information for generating better plans in equal predicates on the...

Btw instead of setting allow page lock = off on the index, you could use a ROWLOCK table hint on the update statement.

In all cases test thoroughly, because if you...

You might want to try disabling page locking on the clustered index. From what I understand you only have 5000 records in the table and each job updates their own...

Thanks to you all.

Jamie I like the query plan for your version. The Id should have been a primary key, so your sql statement should hold up

Thanks to you all.

Jamie I like the query plan for your version. The Id should have been a primary key, so your sql statement should hold up