[R] R performance: different CPUs

[Toby Muhlhofer]

Hello!

I need to purchase a new box, which I would like to optimize for good R 
performance.

For the record, I will run Fedora Core 5 as and OS, and I wanted to know 
if anyone has experience with how the following affects R performance:

- Is there a big advantage to having a 64-bit CPU over having a 32-bit?

- Does an Opteron offer any advantages over an Athlon, and if yes, does 
it justify an investment of about US $75 more for equivalent listed speeds?

- Have people successfully multithreaded R computations, such as to 
justify a dual-core CPU? I understand R itself does not multithread, but 
  of course it should be possible to write code that paralellizes 
computations and I wanted to know if anyone has experience doing so and 
gained large speed advantages by it.

Thanks,
	Toby Muhlhfoer