hey,
any chance we can get some improvement here?

StorageDrawers-1.7.10-1.9.7
extrautilities-1.2.12

Minecraft version, SD version, ExU version?

Added to main

Thanks. Can't speak for @jaquadro, but it looks like this isn't SD's problem. You have a filter on the transfer node, correct? It looks like the transfer node calls markDirty() on the slave (even if no items are extracted) each time it finds a drawer slot containing an item that doesn't match the filter.

Yes, they have an filter.

As a workaround, you can put the drawer containing the filtered item next to the controller and lock it. This should put it at the top of the slot order so the transfer node doesn't have to go through a lot of drawers to find it. Or, use a different kind of item pipe.