HI, I know there are always a lot of questions on which is the best forum software, however I am currently on the look out for which one has the best performance. I don't need massively feature rich forums, just something that operates smoothly and with the best overall performance and least drain on resources. I currently use SMF 1.1.11. It has more than enough feautures in fact more than I need. However it doesn't always perform the best under load and I get some regular dropouts when my forum gets too busy. Some info on my forum and setup - Database size - Approx 180Mb - most users are around 140 at a time, and thats fairly average - Server Quad core - 768Mb Ram I want to find the best balance between everything and want to minimize the dropouts but in my experience, SMF tends to cause a fair few drains on resource. So I am looking at all free options again but finding hard facts are hard. So does anyone have any or have they done any benchmarking on the options out there? Oh I also use Joomla for my main site framework, and am considering Kunena, but my thoughts on fully integrated solutions generally are that the performance just isnt there. The main feature I need is fully private forums also. So i can have a few select hidden forums. Anyway your suggestions are appreciated. Dan