I think you understand but to be sure 
..
I didn't mean to make the LDraw files large, I meant rending wise it won't speed things up. Once the files are read they should be used to create the recursive flat data (mesh) needed for rendering.
In LDCad for example I do this on the part level but all vertices etc are cached on the .dat file level. Another advantage of many subparts is the possibility for multithreaded loading/caching/preparing.
..I didn't mean to make the LDraw files large, I meant rending wise it won't speed things up. Once the files are read they should be used to create the recursive flat data (mesh) needed for rendering.
In LDCad for example I do this on the part level but all vertices etc are cached on the .dat file level. Another advantage of many subparts is the possibility for multithreaded loading/caching/preparing.