diff --git a/packages/pg/bench.js b/packages/pg/bench.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7a7084ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/pg/bench.js
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+const pg = require("./lib");
+const pool = new pg.Pool()
+
+const q = {
+  text:
+    "select typname, typnamespace, typowner, typlen, typbyval, typcategory, typispreferred, typisdefined, typdelim, typrelid, typelem, typarray from pg_type where typtypmod = $1 and typisdefined = $2",
+  values: [-1, true]
+};
+
+const exec = async client => {
+  const result = await client.query({
+    text: q.text,
+    values: q.values,
+    rowMode: "array"
+  });
+};
+
+const bench = async (client, time) => {
+  let start = Date.now();
+  let count = 0;
+  while (true) {
+    await exec(client);
+    count++;
+    if (Date.now() - start > time) {
+      return count;
+    }
+  }
+};
+
+const run = async () => {
+  const client = new pg.Client();
+  await client.connect();
+  await bench(client, 1000);
+  console.log("warmup done");
+  const seconds = 5;
+  const queries = await bench(client, seconds * 1000);
+  console.log("queries:", queries);
+  console.log("qps", queries / seconds);
+  console.log("on my laptop best so far seen 713 qps")
+  await client.end();
+};
+
+run().catch(e => console.error(e) || process.exit(-1));
diff --git a/packages/pg/lib/connection.js b/packages/pg/lib/connection.js
index 4fae9208..c6035e50 100644
--- a/packages/pg/lib/connection.js
+++ b/packages/pg/lib/connection.js
@@ -16,10 +16,12 @@ var Reader = require('packet-reader')
 
 var TEXT_MODE = 0
 var BINARY_MODE = 1
+
 var Connection = function (config) {
   EventEmitter.call(this)
   config = config || {}
   this.stream = config.stream || new net.Socket()
+  this.stream.setNoDelay(true)
   this._keepAlive = config.keepAlive
   this._keepAliveInitialDelayMillis = config.keepAliveInitialDelayMillis
   this.lastBuffer = false
@@ -87,7 +89,8 @@ Connection.prototype.connect = function (port, host) {
         return self.emit('error', new Error('The server does not support SSL connections'))
       case 'S': // Server supports SSL connections, continue with a secure connection
         break
-      default: // Any other response byte, including 'E' (ErrorResponse) indicating a server error
+      default:
+        // Any other response byte, including 'E' (ErrorResponse) indicating a server error
         return self.emit('error', new Error('There was an error establishing an SSL connection'))
     }
     var tls = require('tls')
@@ -136,8 +139,9 @@ Connection.prototype.attachListeners = function (stream) {
 
 Connection.prototype.requestSsl = function () {
   var bodyBuffer = this.writer
-    .addInt16(0x04D2)
-    .addInt16(0x162F).flush()
+    .addInt16(0x04d2)
+    .addInt16(0x162f)
+    .flush()
 
   var length = bodyBuffer.length + 4
 
@@ -149,9 +153,7 @@ Connection.prototype.requestSsl = function () {
 }
 
 Connection.prototype.startup = function (config) {
-  var writer = this.writer
-    .addInt16(3)
-    .addInt16(0)
+  var writer = this.writer.addInt16(3).addInt16(0)
 
   Object.keys(config).forEach(function (key) {
     var val = config[key]
@@ -206,8 +208,7 @@ Connection.prototype.sendSASLInitialResponseMessage = function (mechanism, initi
 
 Connection.prototype.sendSCRAMClientFinalMessage = function (additionalData) {
   // 0x70 = 'p'
-  this.writer
-    .addString(additionalData)
+  this.writer.addString(additionalData)
 
   this._send(0x70)
 }
@@ -216,11 +217,7 @@ Connection.prototype._send = function (code, more) {
   if (!this.stream.writable) {
     return false
   }
-  if (more === true) {
-    this.writer.addHeader(code)
-  } else {
-    return this.stream.write(this.writer.flush(code))
-  }
+  return this.stream.write(this.writer.flush(code))
 }
 
 Connection.prototype.query = function (text) {
@@ -229,8 +226,7 @@ Connection.prototype.query = function (text) {
 }
 
 // send parse message
-// "more" === true to buffer the message until flush() is called
-Connection.prototype.parse = function (query, more) {
+Connection.prototype.parse = function (query) {
   // expect something like this:
   // { name: 'queryName',
   //   text: 'select * from blah',
@@ -257,12 +253,13 @@ Connection.prototype.parse = function (query, more) {
   }
 
   var code = 0x50
-  this._send(code, more)
+  this._send(code)
+  this.flush()
 }
 
 // send bind message
 // "more" === true to buffer the message until flush() is called
-Connection.prototype.bind = function (config, more) {
+Connection.prototype.bind = function (config) {
   // normalize config
   config = config || {}
   config.portal = config.portal || ''
@@ -271,13 +268,17 @@ Connection.prototype.bind = function (config, more) {
   var values = config.values || []
   var len = values.length
   var useBinary = false
-  for (var j = 0; j < len; j++) { useBinary |= values[j] instanceof Buffer }
-  var buffer = this.writer
-    .addCString(config.portal)
-    .addCString(config.statement)
-  if (!useBinary) { buffer.addInt16(0) } else {
+  for (var j = 0; j < len; j++) {
+    useBinary |= values[j] instanceof Buffer
+  }
+  var buffer = this.writer.addCString(config.portal).addCString(config.statement)
+  if (!useBinary) {
+    buffer.addInt16(0)
+  } else {
     buffer.addInt16(len)
-    for (j = 0; j < len; j++) { buffer.addInt16(values[j] instanceof Buffer) }
+    for (j = 0; j < len; j++) {
+      buffer.addInt16(values[j] instanceof Buffer)
+    }
   }
   buffer.addInt16(len)
   for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
@@ -300,59 +301,63 @@ Connection.prototype.bind = function (config, more) {
     buffer.addInt16(0) // format codes to use text
   }
   // 0x42 = 'B'
-  this._send(0x42, more)
+  this._send(0x42)
+  this.flush()
 }
 
 // send execute message
 // "more" === true to buffer the message until flush() is called
-Connection.prototype.execute = function (config, more) {
+Connection.prototype.execute = function (config) {
   config = config || {}
   config.portal = config.portal || ''
   config.rows = config.rows || ''
-  this.writer
-    .addCString(config.portal)
-    .addInt32(config.rows)
+  this.writer.addCString(config.portal).addInt32(config.rows)
 
   // 0x45 = 'E'
-  this._send(0x45, more)
+  this._send(0x45)
+  this.flush()
 }
 
 var emptyBuffer = Buffer.alloc(0)
 
+const flushBuffer = Buffer.from([0x48, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x04])
 Connection.prototype.flush = function () {
-  // 0x48 = 'H'
-  this.writer.add(emptyBuffer)
-  this._send(0x48)
+  if (this.stream.writable) {
+    this.stream.write(flushBuffer)
+  }
 }
 
+const syncBuffer = Buffer.from([0x53, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x04])
 Connection.prototype.sync = function () {
-  // clear out any pending data in the writer
-  this.writer.flush(0)
-
-  this.writer.add(emptyBuffer)
   this._ending = true
-  this._send(0x53)
+  // clear out any pending data in the writer
+  this.writer.clear()
+  if (this.stream.writable) {
+    this.stream.write(syncBuffer)
+    this.stream.write(flushBuffer)
+  }
 }
 
 const END_BUFFER = Buffer.from([0x58, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x04])
 
 Connection.prototype.end = function () {
   // 0x58 = 'X'
-  this.writer.add(emptyBuffer)
+  this.writer.clear()
   this._ending = true
   return this.stream.write(END_BUFFER, () => {
     this.stream.end()
   })
 }
 
-Connection.prototype.close = function (msg, more) {
+Connection.prototype.close = function (msg) {
   this.writer.addCString(msg.type + (msg.name || ''))
-  this._send(0x43, more)
+  this._send(0x43)
 }
 
-Connection.prototype.describe = function (msg, more) {
+Connection.prototype.describe = function (msg) {
   this.writer.addCString(msg.type + (msg.name || ''))
-  this._send(0x44, more)
+  this._send(0x44)
+  this.flush()
 }
 
 Connection.prototype.sendCopyFromChunk = function (chunk) {
@@ -376,8 +381,9 @@ var Message = function (name, length) {
 
 Connection.prototype.parseMessage = function (buffer) {
   this.offset = 0
-  var length = buffer.length + 4
-  switch (this._reader.header) {
+  const length = buffer.length + 4;
+  const code = this._reader.header;
+  switch (code) {
     case 0x52: // R
       return this.parseR(buffer, length)
 
@@ -441,6 +447,7 @@ Connection.prototype.parseMessage = function (buffer) {
     case 0x64: // d
       return this.parsed(buffer, length)
   }
+  console.log('could not parse', packet)
 }
 
 Connection.prototype.parseR = function (buffer, length) {