> comfortably handling several millions of requests a day and CPU load hovering 10-20% Parent suggested that at 172 million requests per day (2000 rps), there

> comfortably handling several millions of requests a day and CPU load hovering 10-20% Parent suggested that at 172 million requests per day (2000 rps), there would be trouble. Assuming "several million" is <= 17 million (or even up to 34 million, given the 10-20% range stated), then your stats would tend to agree.