[R] Memory limit for Windows 64bit build of R

[David Winsemius]

On Aug 5, 2012, at 3:52 PM, Alan.X.Simpson at nab.com.au wrote:

> Dear all
>
> I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise machine, with 64bit R  
> installed
> running on 2 x Quad-core Intel Xeon 5500 processor with 24GB DDR3  
> 1066 Mhz
> RAM.  I am seeking to analyse very large data sets (perhaps as much as
> 10GB), without the addtional coding overhead of a package such as
> bigmemory().

It may depend in part on how that number is arrived at. And what you  
plan on doing with it. (Don't consider creating a dist-object.)
>
> My question is this - if we were to increase the RAM on the machine to
> (say) 128GB, would this become a possibility?  I have read the
> documentation on memory limits and it seems so, but would like some
> additional confirmation before investing in any extra RAM.

The trypical advices is you will need memory that is 3 times as large  
as a large dataset, and I find that even more headroom is needed. I  
have 32GB and my larger datasets occupy 5-6 GB and I generally have  
few problems. I had quite a few problems with 18 GB, so I think the  
ratio should be 4-5 x your 10GB object.  I predict you could get by  
with 64GB. (please send check for half the difference in cost between  
64GB abd 128 GB.)

-- 
David.


> Kind regards
>
> Alan
>
> Alan Simpson
> Technical Lead, Retail Model Development
> Retail Models Project
> National Australia Bank
>
> Level 15, 500 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC
> Tel: +61 (0) 3 8697 7135  |  Mob: +61 (0) 412 975 955
> Email: Alan.X.Simpson at nab.com.au
>
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David Winsemius, MD
Alameda, CA, USA