How much bandwidth ((concurrent connections perhaps)) are you saving?

I notice many of the vBulletin "instant" features are not enabled here at TalkFreelance. For instance - it supposedly takes an hour or more to update current post count... I've recently had database errors on my forum. Something about max allowed concurrent database connections allowed or some such... My question: How much bandwidth,etc do you save by having your currently very conservative settings here at TalkFreelance?

Thanx,

Jacquii.