Link: http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/22668
If we select a large number of elements from the element classes stored in ArcSDE, we will often feel the performance decline (compared to selecting fewer elements ). It is possible to improve the performance (features cached) by increasing the number of elements cached on the client ). By creating a Windows registry entry called 'selectionthreshold ', you can add the function of caching data on the client. This registry key can increase the number of selected records cached in the local client memory rather than writing these records to the user's log file table.
Procedure:
1: from the desktop, click Start> Run, type regedit, and click OK.
2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER> Software> ESRI on the left side of the browser tree.
3: If there is no key to ESRI, right-click ESRI, select new> key, and name it 'geographical database '.
If a key for the geographic database already exists, continue with step 4.
4: If the configuration key of the geographical database does not exist, right-click the geographical database, choose new> key, and name it settings.
If the key already exists, continue with Step 5.
5: If no setting exists, right-click the DWORD Value of selectionthreshold, choose new> DWORD, and name it 'selectionthreshold '.
If the key already exists, continue with Step 6.
6. Right-click selectionthreshold and choose modify.
7. In the Edit DWORD Value window, select base in decimal format and enter a reasonable number in the value data box, for example, 5000. Click OK.
8: Close the registry editor window.
From: http://blog.csdn.net/linghe301/article/details/7267865