Does LIMIT affect neo4j cipher query performance?

Question

Currently I have a query like this:

var query = [
    'MATCH (term:Term)',
    'WHERE HAS (term.last_viewed_at)',
    'RETURN term ORDER BY term.last_viewed_at DESC LIMIT 17',
].join('\n');

Would the performance of the query be improved if I change the LIMIT 17 to something smaller/bigger, or to remove the LIMIT 17 and filter the result on my own?

Or are there other ways to improve the performance of this query?

Answer 1

How much higher will your LIMIT be, how much higher DbHits will be done during the Execution Plan, and removing the LIMIT will have as much DBHits than returned Nodes.

You can have a nice explanation of the Execution Plan with a little sandbox here :

http://www.kennybastani.com/2014/07/understanding-how-neo4j-cypher-queries.html

Cheers,

Chris