[R] Linux Standalone Server Suggestions for R

[Jia-Shing So]

Hi All,

My group is  looking for any suggestions on what to purchase to  
achieve the most powerful number crunching system that $50k can buy.   
The main application that will be used is R so input on what hardware  
benefits R most will be appreciated.  The requirements are that it be  
a single standalone server (i.e. not a cluster solution), and it that  
must be able to run unix/linux.  If anyone has any experience/ 
suggestions regarding the following questions that would also be  
greatly appreciated.

AMD vs Intel chips, especially 64-bit versions of the two?
Using Itanium/Opterons and if so how much of a performance boost did  
you achieve vs other 64-bit chip sets?
Also, does anyone know if there is an upper thresh hold on much  
memory R can use?

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions,

Jia-Shing So
Programmer Analyst
Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Lab
University of California, San Diego