Most developers use default properties of ASP.NET server controls when developing web applications. ASP.NET web applications typically employ server controls to provide dynamic web pages, and data-bound server controls to display and maintain database data. Though the default properties allow for fast creation of workable applications, creating a high-performance, multi-user, and scalable web application requires careful configuring of server controls and their enhancement using custom-made code. In providing commonly required functionality in data-driven ASP.NET web applications such as paging, sorting and filtering, our empirical study evaluated the impact of various technical approaches: automatic data binding in web server controls; data paging and sorting on web server; paging and sorting on database server; indexed and non-indexed database columns; clustered vs. non-clustered indices. The study observed significant performance differences between various technical approaches.