Most recent PEQ database has 76214 items, with the last ID being 119462 according to my DB.
You should really try to figure out why mysql is crashing. Are you using WAMP? What query are you using to get the items? Are you using a gui to make modifications to your db (I prefer
MySQL GUI Tools)? Is the DB hosted on the same box as the server?
Even using 'SELECT id FROM items;' takes 0.38s when using command-line from a linux box. If you have an exceptionally old, or highly-loaded, computer, it might take long enough that you'd think it crashed.