Anyone know how to make a database faster? Currently I have 500 identical table structured tables in one database which helped - but I'm looking for a better way.
If you don't already have indexes in place, that would be a good start. You can see where these would help by finding your largest query and running it with explain in front of it. It should provide you with some relevant information including the total numbers of rows read. If you create a proper index, this should cut this number down significantly and improve the speed of applications utilizing the databases.
Using ID's and primary keys should also speed things up. I had a db with 2.6 million records and no indexes! Adding 2 indexes dropped one particular query time from 15 sec to <1 sec.