Time outs when using forwarders

[Kenneth Mason]

I am considering changing my internal DNS servers so that they no longer
use the root hints file and instead forward to a couple of caching only
servers that do use the root hints file.

I have been testing this configuration and am experiencing a
significant number of resolution timeouts.  Note that my forwarder
directive repeats the list of caching only servers 3 times.   I
originally listed the caching only servers once, and there has been
little or no improvement, even with including the caching only servers
multiple times in the list.

The caching only and forwarder servers are running Bind 8.3.3.

My test environment consists of a WindowsXP workstation whose resolver
list points to the forwarder DNS server.  When the http request times
out, I hit the reload button and almost always the web page is then
returned.

Can anyone offer a suggestion regarding the number of a resolution
timeouts?

Thanks.