pixmaps: one big or several small ?

[Paul Barton-Davis <pbd Op Net>]

I have 32 images that represent a knob at various angles. I am
wondering if its better to merge them all into a single pixmap, and
use the gdk pixmap draw function to select the relevant rectangle
(square in my case) from the result, or if its about the same in terms
of server & client costs to use 32 small pixmaps, and select a
different one each time the knob rotates.

--thanks
--p