  We present evidence that the Bak-Sneppen model of evolution on $N$ vertices
requires $N^3$ iterates to reach equilibrium. This is substantially more than
previous authors suggested (on the order of $N^2$). Based on that estimate, we
present a novel algorithm inspired by previous rank-driven analyses of the
model allowing for direct simulation of the model with populations of up to $N
= 25600$ for $2\cdot N^3$ iterations. These extensive simulations suggest a
cutoff value of $x^* = 0.66692 \pm 0.00003$, a value slightly lower than
previously estimated yet still distinctly above $2/3$. We also study how the
cutoff values $x^*_N$ at finite $N$ approximate the conjectured value $x^*$ at
$N=\infty$. Assuming $x^*_N-x^*_\infty \sim N^{-\nu}$, we find that
$\nu=0.978\pm 0.025$, which is significantly lower than previous estimates
($\nu\approx 1.4$).
