Slicehost share out CPU cycles based on the size of the VPS. e.g. a 521MB VPS has 2x the CPU of a 256MB VPS. They also do 64bit distros, which may help your C

Slicehost share out CPU cycles based on the size of the VPS. e.g. a 521MB VPS has 2x the CPU of a 256MB VPS. They also do 64bit distros, which may help your CPU load. I assume you have investigated where that CPU goes and consider refactoring, caching etc.