I''ve never had a good experience with CVA''s or display lists.

Basically, VBO''s or even just plain vertex arrays, are you''re best bet for speed. The slight difference in speed between VBO''s/VA''s, is not such a big deal, since most next-gen games these days are limited by fill rate, not necessarily triangle rate.

hm.. i wouldnt call it "slight" difference.. also i agree on the fillrate problem in general it wont be a problem if instead of having a few big triangles you render a lot of small triangles. fillrate shouldnt change, but detail definitely would (at least along the edges, now that everybody noticed what normalmaps can be used for ,-) )