Have been opening a bunch of threads (that hadn't been hit before so they couldn't have been cached) and things seem to be MUCH better for the moment !
Still a little laggy on the preview button, but it's night/day from last night and this morning, Jim.
Havent received an official update yet after Johns latest configuration change, but havent had any timeouts in the last twenty minutes or so either. Not lightening fast, but looks like shes holding up under the load ok. Praying.