Performance of SQL server matters while working with large enterprise applications and where performance really bothers the business workflow. When NOCOUNT is ON, the count of rows by the execution of the query (T-SQL statements) is not returned. You must have noticed that when you perform operations by executing INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE or SELECT statements, the server returns the number of rows. The count of rows is necessary while debugging your queries, when you are done with debugging you can turn NOCOUNT ON. To view the number of rows affected use the command SET NOCOUNT OFF. You can try writing a normal select query with NOCOUNT as OFF, when NOCOUNT is OFF you can see the number of rows affected, but when you set NOCOUNT ON, you will not see any message related to the count of rows which are affected when you execute select statement or T-SQL statement.