MySQL can handle vast amounts of data, even on a non-monster server. The speed at which a server performs is most often a correlary of how well the database schema is designed. If you are planning to use 27 VARCHAR(50) columns, with no standardization of data, no normalization, and no data type streamlining, then, yes, the performance will be horrible. But, if you spend a decent amount of time analyzing the data and selecting accurate and efficient data types for your columns, and perhaps de-NULLing fields and/or horizontally partitioning into main/detail tables, along with adding appropriate indexes on key fields, then the performance will be excellent.
The performance of the database server is a product of the amount of time spent planning and analyzing the data which will eventually compose the tables, along with a good amount of tweaking of indexes and settings once the database has been populated.
Jay Pipes
Community Relations Manager, North America, MySQL Inc.
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