&gt; Would it be possible to dynamically choose the padding at server start time?<p>I doubt it. Allowing the compiler to generate accesses with lea et al. is quite beneficial; and that&#x27;d likely be gone by making this not be a compile time constant.<p>It&#x27;d also end up being a tuning knob very very few knew how to tune...<p>&gt; Given that cache line sizes vary that seems like it might be a prudent choice.<p>They usually only vary between architectures. Netburst IIRC was the last time x86 cache line sizes varied. If there&#x27;s any doubt it&#x27;s usually ok to just use the higher (128 byte) line size, the &quot;unused&quot; padding cache-line will never be accessed and thus not occupy cache space.