Benchmark: timing 5 iterations of MCE loop , MCE loop/batch gather, MCE map , Sequential loop ... MCE loop : 56 wallclock secs ( 1.26 usr 0.57 sys + 36.11 cusr 42.06 csys = 80.00 CPU) @ 0.06/s (n=5) MCE loop/batch gather: 57 wallclock secs ( 0.55 usr 0.17 sys + 36.20 cusr 40.75 csys = 77.67 CPU) @ 0.06/s (n=5) MCE map : 66 wallclock secs ( 3.75 usr 0.32 sys + 36.34 cusr 40.67 csys = 81.08 CPU) @ 0.06/s (n=5) Sequential loop : 73 wallclock secs (35.16 usr + 28.66 sys = 63.82 CPU) @ 0.08/s (n=5)