 <p>I imagine that using the appropriate <code>LIMIT</code> clause in your <code>SELECT</code> statement is more efficient (it will definitely save lookup time atleast), but I don't know how the internals of how <code>mysql_data_seek</code> works, specifically if it reads <code>x</code> records and discards them, or whether it works like filesystem <code>seek</code> commands do (sends a signal to MySQL telling it to skip sending the next <code>x</code> records).</p> <p>If it works the first way, I'd expect a minimal speedup doing it this way. If it was the later way, I'd expect a speedup, but not as much as simply using the appropriate <code>LIMIT</code> clause.</p>