Thanks to everyone for the info -- we're looking further into this right now.

Two quick points: first, you're only acting as an UltraPeer if you see connections labelled as "leaf" in your connections tab. If you see, say, three connections labelled as UltraPeer, that means you're a leaf (but not that you won't be an UltraPeer someday -- UltraPeers are elected as the network needs them).

Second, the CPU on startup doesn't really "count". I'm more interested on if the CPU stays that high after you've been up for a minute or so. On the database idea, that would definitely improve loading speed and is probably a good idea, but it's not our top priority right now.

Thanks very much again -- any more little tidbits would be great if people have them.