Your path will be slower with respect to one request.
see this test http://blog.cnizz.com/2010/05/31/optimize-mysql-queries-fast-mutliple-row-inserts/
UPDATE:
Mysqli test:
<?php $s = microtime(true); $mysqli = new mysqli("127.0.0.1", "root", "pass", "test", 3306); for($i=0;$i<1000;$i++){ $mysqli->query("INSERT INTO admin SET name='hello world'"); } $e = microtime(true); echo $e-$s; ?>
28.007468938828 - INNODB
0.19577789306641 - MYISAM
<?php $s = microtime(true); $mysqli = new mysqli("127.0.0.1", "root", "pass", "test", 3306); $sql = "INSERT INTO admin (`name`) VALUES "; for($i=0;$i<1000;$i++){ $sql.= "('hello world'),"; } $sql = substr($sql,0,-1); $mysqli->query($sql); $e = microtime(true); echo $e-$s; ?>
0.06469202041626 - INNODB
0.052706003189087 - MYISAM
(tested on Athlon X2 2.7 MHz)
and on Intel I3 with a frequency of 2.4 MHz
source share