load average with multi-core CPU's

[Mark Felder]

On Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:22:43 -0500, Henry M <henry95 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Can someone explain, or point me to correct documentation on what the  
> load
> average on top/uptime is actually displaying?

Load average is "average number of processes in the run queue" for the 1,  
5, and 15 minute intervals. If you have a quad core CPU a 4.00 load  
average means you've been keeping the CPU busy at 100%.


Does that make sense?



Regards,



Mark