title: Move frequently updated columns to separate table for better performance?
body: <p>(This is almost the same question as <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3868127/rdbms-move-frequently-updated-columns-into-a-separate-table">here</a> but I am seeking specific clarification about performance, not solving any errors).</p>
  
  <p>Consider a database table containing a medium-to-large number of attributes (columns), most of which are static or infrequently updated.  The table is used in <strong>read operations extremely frequently</strong>.</p>
  
  <p>If two or three of the attributes (columns) <strong>are</strong> updated frequently, is it advisable to split those off into a separate table for performance reasons?</p>
  
  <p>One reason I had understood that this would be a benefit is that the query cache for a table is erased when the table is updated. In my case, database is MySQL, table type is InnoDB (row-level locking).</p>
  
  <p>Edit: One of the frequently updated columns is not part of the frequent reads, but it is updated immediately after maybe 25% of the reads.</p>
  
  <p>Another of the frequently updated columns is both part of some frequent reads and updated with each read, although I may batch the updates.</p>