Here are some new*, upgraded limits as they apply to tables in SQL Server 2008:

  • Column limit per base table: 30,000 columns, which is up from 1,024 columns
  • Index limit: 1,000 indexes, which is up from 249
  • Statistics limit: 30,000 statistics, which is up from 2,000

These limits are still bound to the row size limit which is 8,060 bytes; however if a table has sparse columns in it, then that limit is reduced to 8,018 bytes.

*Note: These are not yet available in the CTPs but should be in the CTP6 refresh.