[R] Best Hardware & OS For Large Data Sets

[Tim Coote]

Is it possible to run a Linux guest VM on the Wintel box so that you  
can run the 64 bit code?  I used to do this on XP (but not for R).
On 27 Feb 2010, at 20:03, David Winsemius wrote:

>
> On Feb 27, 2010, at 12:47 PM, J. Daniel wrote:
>
>>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I am acquiring a new computer in order to conduct data analysis.  I
>> currently have a 32-bit Vista OS with 3G of RAM and I consistently  
>> run into
>> memory allocation problems.  I will likely be required to run  
>> Windows 7 on
>> the new system, but have flexibility as far as hardware goes.  Can  
>> people
>> recommend the best hardware to minimize memory allocation  
>> problems?  I am
>> leaning towards dual core on a 64-bit system with 8G of RAM.  Given  
>> the
>> Windows constraint, is there anything I am missing here?
>
> Perhaps the fact that the stable CRAN version of R for (any) Windows  
> is 32-bit? It would expand your memory space somewhat but not as  
> much as you might naively expect.
>
> (There was a recent  announcement that an experimental version of a  
> 64-bit R was available (even with an installer) and there are  
> vendors who will supply a 64-bit Windows version for an un-announced  
> price. The fact that there was not as of January support for binary  
> packages seems to a bit of a constraint on who would be able to  
> "step up" to use full 64 bit R capabilities on Win64. I'm guessing  
> from the your failure to mention potential software constraints that  
> you are not among that more capable group, as I am also not.)
>
> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2010-January/056301.html
> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2010-January/056411.html
>
>>
>> I know that Windows limits the RAM that a single application can  
>> access.
>> Does this fact over-ride many hardware considerations?  Any way  
>> around this?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> JD
>>
> -- 
>
> David Winsemius, MD
> Heritage Laboratories
> West Hartford, CT
>
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Tim Coote
tim at coote.org
+44 (0)7866 479 760