use strict;

my $i = 120;
my $n = 250000;
my $x = {};
my @a;
my $j;

$#a = $n;

# Up front, big malloc/free ... Does it make a difference?
#keys %$x = ($i * $n);
#$x = {};

while ($n-- > 0)
{
   $x = {};
   keys %$x = $i;

   for ($j = 0; $j < $i; $j++)
   {
       $x->{$j} = $j;
   }

   push(@a, $x);
}

##</code><code>##

Total Elapsed Time = 947.1299 Seconds
  User+System Time = 383.5699 Seconds

##</code><code>##

Total Elapsed Time = 497.0599 Seconds
  User+System Time = 376.4799 Seconds