Generally speaking - 

For an assembly with a lot of configurations (50+) - is it better to use a pattern driven pattern, or to suppress and resolve individual components in a design table? 

example - I have a bench with 50 configs, and the qty of cantilever brackets and it's screws vary with the length of the bench top.  

thoughts? best practices for such an endeavor? More concerned about performance than design time in this scenario.