This is very odd behaviour.

we have a large database somewhat (around 6GB) of data.
Now, on the dev box, we can execute SPROCS called from .NET or QA, which involves sorting the TOP 5 records by datetime field. This works pretty much immediately giving me back the result.

When using the SAME database but on a fresh and new environment, it takes over 5 minutes or just under for it to give back the results!

After commenting out the sort field for datetime, the problem has gone away and data comes back fast.

Why such a behaviour on a new fresh system using the same SPROCS and parameters??

how can I resolve the performance issue as some data needs to be sorted at the SQL end on the datetime columns.

any tips/tricks/advice?