The databases that I am interested in are: SQL Server 2008, MySQL, and PostgreSQL 9.0.
In general, I am wondering which of those would "scale-up" the best. I have read that PostgreSQL used to scale-up better than MySQL, but that the difference has shrunk with newer versions of MySQL.
In addition to general information, I am also looking for advice for my specific situation:
I have a 64-bit SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer Edition database with 20 years of stock data and 2 years of options data. The hardware is Intel i7 Extreme with 6 cores, 12 GB RAM, 64-bit Windows 7.
The database is fairly large and intense calulations, such as moving averages, can take as long as 7 minutes. Furthermore, there's considerable disk activity even after the query is compete. I'm doing all the calculations in stored procedures right now.
My system is too slow and I am trying to improve its performance and efficiency. I am currently improving my data model and tweaking the software setup. Any suggestions?
Also, when should someone consider using MySQL Cluster? (Since I'm asking, I'm sure the answer is, "Not yours!")