Which approach to create the data access layer has the highest performance?

Question

I have to create a very high performance application. Currently, I am using Entity Framework for my data access layer. My application has to insert some communication data almost every second. I found that Entity Framework is slow; it has about 2 seconds delay to finish the SaveChanges() method.

I was thinking I have the following options: 1. Create the data access layer myself using ADO.NET; using stored procedures or ad-hoc queries 2. Use Enterprise Library Data access Layer 3. Use NHibernate 4. Use Repository Factory: http://pooyakhamooshi.blogspot.com/search?q=repository

What do you think? which one is quicker for inserting data? Which one is quicker to set up?

Answer 1

If it's only a question of performance, it's impossible to go past using ADO.NET directly because every framework that you will use will use ADO.NET under the scenes. The performance gain has to be worth it though, and unless you're inserting millions upon millions of records, it's not likely to be worth it.

I would suggest you look at profiling your application to see why your application is taking 2 seconds to save information, it shouldn't be that slow. Maybe you've got an n + 1 performance problem. Fixing this will probably give you the performance you want using Entity Framework (or any other standard DAL for that matter). Focus your efforts on that.