GNU make also has -l (load limit) and make -j -l <number-of-cores> seems like better idea and in my experience works better. But still I tend to just run make -

GNU make also has -l (load limit) and make -j -l <number-of-cores> seems like better idea and in my experience works better. But still I tend to just run make -j without any limit which on modern systems works well enough.