Back in mid-'02 my log in time grew to 2 1/2 minutes. I told google i could not operate that way, and they credited me $250 for my trouble and upgraded that same week! My log-in time dropped to under 10 seconds. Since then it has slowly crept back up again with the number of advertisers (as well as my own data) growing and growing and growing.
Bring on the hardware! =)