I also feel that the 25 - 30 secs tvserver service takes to start are a bit too long.
I also use MSSQL on my single seat installation (MP 1.0 RC3 + svn, XP Pro SP 3, 4GB RAM, AMD 64 X2 4200+). And I guess that MSSQL is slow loading here, too.
Are there any hints how to make things a little faster by "tuning" or tweaking MSSQL?