> I can recall on countless occasions over the years being able to > login to a system that is running at 100% cpu usage and not > really have any noticeable impact on being able to login or > interact with the system. > I agree here. I do remember not being able to log in when i/o is completely swamped though. Maybe the problem is not so much 100% cpu usage but disk i/o. The box might be thrashing swap.