Load Average, Multiple Cores, & Hyperthreading

[Xanko]

I recently upgraded to a core i3 system (2 cores and 2 hyperthreads showing up as 4 "CPU"s in top, htop, etc.) My load averages when really taxing the system goes to about 1.5ish. The system does not stutter one bit however I was wondering if I should consider having a load average of 2.0 or 4.0 as really taxing the system?

Good Article on Load Averages: http://blog.scoutapp.com/articles/2009/07/31/understanding-load-averages

[jbencic]

from the link you posted it looks like a load average of 4 (1 x number of cpu's) is where you will experience issues (waiting/queuing)

(i believe) the load average is a cumulative average of all the cores however what if one of the cores was maxed out with a load average of the > 1 and the others were idle?

how can you list the load average per core