Index performance on ON versus WHERE
The performance will be the same. The optimizer will recognize this and create the same plan.

On the other hand I wouldn't say they are equal. The first form in the question is far more readable and generally expected.

For an example using some tables I have at hand you can see the execution plan is exactly the same no matter how I write the query.

You should be able to determine the query plans for your own tables and data set so you can see what happens in your situation though.

SELECT * FROM salestable , custtable 
WHERE salestable.custaccount = custtable.accountnum 
AND salestable.dataareaid = custtable.dataareaid

SELECT * FROM salestable 
JOIN  custtable 
ON salestable.custaccount = custtable.accountnum 
AND salestable.dataareaid = custtable.dataareaid

SELECT * FROM salestable JOIN custtable 
ON salestable.custaccount = custtable.accountnum 
WHERE salestable.dataareaid = custtable.dataareaid


Gives these execution plans