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>>There is. Unfortunately, the rule is benchmark the problem and determine whether the server is memory-bounded or processor-bounded, and fix the problem. It's at least even money that the system will hit the swap file frequently before running out of CPU cycles, especially if the SQL Server is running on the same box as MTS and the VB/VFP app, especially if the size of the dataset being manipulated by SQL Server is large.
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>Absolutely with SQL Server on the same box. I originally recommended the fastest processor and most RAM you can afford...I guess that's my rule of thumb. I also prefer to not run IIS, SQL Server, and biz objects on the different boxes.

Pretty safe bet, although at some point, the disk subsystem is likely to be the bottleneck in the system - especially the case if you cheap it out using IDE rather than SCSI or 1394.