diff --git a/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/PlaygroundOutputs/PlaygroundOutputTable/PlaygroundOutputCell.tsx b/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/PlaygroundOutputs/PlaygroundOutputTable/PlaygroundOutputCell.tsx
index 6edf74bb1d0..0563290bb68 100644
--- a/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/PlaygroundOutputs/PlaygroundOutputTable/PlaygroundOutputCell.tsx
+++ b/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/PlaygroundOutputs/PlaygroundOutputTable/PlaygroundOutputCell.tsx
@@ -4,11 +4,7 @@ import { ListTree } from "lucide-react";
 
 import CellWrapper from "@/shared/DataTableCells/CellWrapper";
 import {
-  useOutputLoadingByPromptDatasetItemId,
-  useOutputStaleStatusByPromptDatasetItemId,
-  useOutputValueByPromptDatasetItemId,
-  useSelectedRuleIdsByPromptDatasetItemId,
-  useTraceIdByPromptDatasetItemId,
+  useOutputByPromptDatasetItemId,
   useDatasetType,
   useExperimentIdByPromptId,
 } from "@/store/PlaygroundStore";
@@ -46,30 +42,23 @@ const PlaygroundOutputCell: React.FunctionComponent<
 
   const workspaceName = useAppStore((state) => state.activeWorkspaceName);
 
-  const value = useOutputValueByPromptDatasetItemId(
-    promptId,
-    originalRow.dataItemId,
-  );
-
-  const isLoading = useOutputLoadingByPromptDatasetItemId(
-    promptId,
-    originalRow.dataItemId,
-  );
-
-  const stale = useOutputStaleStatusByPromptDatasetItemId(
-    promptId,
-    originalRow.dataItemId,
-  );
-
-  const traceId = useTraceIdByPromptDatasetItemId(
-    promptId,
-    originalRow.dataItemId,
-  );
-
-  const selectedRuleIds = useSelectedRuleIdsByPromptDatasetItemId(
+  // One store subscription per cell, not five. Each of the fields below used to
+  // come from its own hook, and every one of those hooks runs the *same*
+  // selector, so a single streaming token re-ran it (dataset items x prompts x 5)
+  // times. Reading the output object once and picking the fields off it is
+  // equivalent — the defaults below are the ones those hooks applied — while
+  // cutting the per-token selector work by 5x. The selector returns the stored
+  // object reference, which only changes when this cell's own output changes, so
+  // unrelated updates still don't re-render this cell.
+  const output = useOutputByPromptDatasetItemId(
     promptId,
     originalRow.dataItemId,
   );
+  const value = output?.value ?? null;
+  const isLoading = output?.isLoading ?? false;
+  const stale = output?.stale ?? false;
+  const traceId = output?.traceId ?? null;
+  const selectedRuleIds = output?.selectedRuleIds;
 
   const datasetType = useDatasetType();
   const experimentId = useExperimentIdByPromptId(promptId);
diff --git a/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/useIncrementalDatasetHydration.ts b/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/useIncrementalDatasetHydration.ts
index 4a4161c7b72..8e6943d4054 100644
--- a/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/useIncrementalDatasetHydration.ts
+++ b/apps/opik-frontend/src/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/useIncrementalDatasetHydration.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import { DatasetItem } from "@/types/datasets";
 import { useHydrateDatasetItemData } from "@/v2/pages/PlaygroundPage/useHydrateDatasetItemData";
+import { containsTruncatedMedia } from "@/lib/media";
 
 export function useIncrementalDatasetHydration(datasetItems: DatasetItem[]): {
   hydratedItems: DatasetItem[];
@@ -9,10 +10,16 @@ export function useIncrementalDatasetHydration(datasetItems: DatasetItem[]): {
   const hydrateDatasetItemData = useHydrateDatasetItemData();
   const [hydratedItems, setHydratedItems] = useState<DatasetItem[]>([]);
   const [isHydrating, setIsHydrating] = useState(false);
-  const cancelledRef = useRef(false);
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    cancelledRef.current = false;
+    // Scoped to this effect run rather than a shared ref. React runs the previous
+    // run's cleanup before this body, so an in-flight hydration from an earlier
+    // dataset observes its own `cancelled === true` and stops — even when this run
+    // returns early below and installs no cleanup of its own. A shared ref instead
+    // got reset here on every run, un-cancelling the previous run's loop; its
+    // continuation would then write the old dataset's data into the new array at a
+    // positional index. Also covers unmount.
+    let cancelled = false;
 
     if (datasetItems.length === 0) {
       setHydratedItems([]);
@@ -21,19 +28,41 @@ export function useIncrementalDatasetHydration(datasetItems: DatasetItem[]): {
     }
 
     setHydratedItems(datasetItems);
+
+    // Only items carrying truncated media need a round-trip — that is the sole
+    // condition under which hydrateDatasetItemData fetches anything. Selecting
+    // them up front means the loop below runs once per *media* item rather than
+    // once per row, and each pass rebuilt the whole array, so a 1000-row text
+    // dataset was doing ~1M array copies to arrive back at the data it started
+    // with.
+    const indexesToHydrate = datasetItems.reduce<number[]>(
+      (acc, item, index) => {
+        if (containsTruncatedMedia(item.data)) {
+          acc.push(index);
+        }
+        return acc;
+      },
+      [],
+    );
+
+    if (indexesToHydrate.length === 0) {
+      setIsHydrating(false);
+      return;
+    }
+
     setIsHydrating(true);
 
     const hydrateItems = async () => {
-      for (let i = 0; i < datasetItems.length; i++) {
-        if (cancelledRef.current) return;
+      for (const index of indexesToHydrate) {
+        if (cancelled) return;
 
-        const hydratedData = await hydrateDatasetItemData(datasetItems[i]);
+        const hydratedData = await hydrateDatasetItemData(datasetItems[index]);
 
-        if (cancelledRef.current) return;
+        if (cancelled) return;
 
         setHydratedItems((prev) =>
           prev.map((item, idx) =>
-            idx === i ? { ...item, data: hydratedData } : item,
+            idx === index ? { ...item, data: hydratedData } : item,
           ),
         );
       }
@@ -44,7 +73,7 @@ export function useIncrementalDatasetHydration(datasetItems: DatasetItem[]): {
     hydrateItems();
 
     return () => {
-      cancelledRef.current = true;
+      cancelled = true;
     };
   }, [datasetItems, hydrateDatasetItemData]);