SQL SERVER - T-SQL Paging Query Technique Comparison - SQL 2000 vs SQL 2005

I was doing paging in SQL Server 2000 using Temp Table or Derived Tables. I decided to checkout new function ROW_NUMBER() in SQL Server 2005. ROW_NUMBER() returns the sequential number of a row within a partition of a result set, starting at 1 for the first row in each partition. I have compared both the following query on SQL Server 2005.

SQL 2005 Paging Method

USE AdventureWorks
GO
DECLARE @StartRow INT
DECLARE @EndRow INT
SET @StartRow = 120
SET @EndRow = 140

SELECT FirstName, LastName, EmailAddress
FROM (
SELECT PC.FirstName, PC.LastName, PC.EmailAddress,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER(Order BY PC.FirstName, PC.LastName,PC.ContactID) AS RowNumber
FROM Person.Contact PC) PersonContact
WHERE RowNumber > @StartRow AND RowNumber < @EndRow
ORDER BY FirstName, LastName, EmailAddress
GOSQL 2000 Paging Method

USE AdventureWorks
GO
DECLARE @StartRow INT
DECLARE @EndRow INT
SET @StartRow = 120
SET @EndRow = 140

CREATE TABLE #tables (RowNumber INT IDENTITY(1,1),
FirstName VARCHAR(100), LastName VARCHAR(100), EmailAddress VARCHAR(100))
INSERT INTO #tables (FirstName, LastName, EmailAddress)
SELECT PC.FirstName, PC.LastName, PC.EmailAddress
FROM Person.Contact PC
ORDER BY FirstName, LastName, EmailAddress

SELECT FirstName, LastName, EmailAddress
FROM #tables
WHERE RowNumber > @StartRow AND RowNumber < @EndRow

DROP TABLE #tables
GOWhile running both the query at same time in query analyzer and comparing execution plan I have discovered that SQL 2005 query method cost is 46% and SQL 2000 query method cost is 54%. Looking at client Statistics I noticed significant improvement in Time Statistics.

Update (6/11/2007) : Extention of this article is published SQL SERVER - 2005 T-SQL Paging Query Technique Comparison (OVER and ROW_NUMBER()) - CTE vs. Derived Table

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://www.SQLAuthority.com)