Question

CPU usage limited after resized the droplet

I resized my droplet from 8GB to 16GB then CPU usage got limited at 30%. Then resized again to 32GB, and now it’s limited at 15%. Looks like, there is something not resizing as I was expected. How can I increase the CPU usage level?

See the screenshot

PS: the project is laravel with nginx.


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Bobby Iliev
Site Moderator
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January 14, 2024
Accepted Answer

Hi there,

I noticed that you mentioned a screenshot to illustrate your issue, but unfortunately, the link to the screenshot isn’t available in your message. However, let’s discuss the situation based on the details you’ve provided.

When you upgrade your Droplet, particularly doubling the resources (like moving from 8GB to 16GB, and then to 32GB), it’s important to understand how this impacts CPU utilization. Increasing the amount of CPU means that you have more processing power at your disposal. As a result, the same workload that previously utilized a higher percentage of your CPU may now use a significantly lower percentage. This is because the workload remains constant while the available CPU resources have increased.

For example, if a certain process used 30% of your 4 CPUs on an 8GB setup, after upgrading to a 8 CPUs and 16GB setup (which basically also doubles the CPU resources), the same process will only show around 15% CPU usage. This decrease in percentage doesn’t indicate underperformance or a problem; rather, it reflects the increased efficiency due to more available resources. The CPU isn’t being ‘limited’; it’s just more capable now, so the percentage of use appears lower for the same workload.

This is quite common and is actually a sign that your Droplet is now more capable of handling additional load without maxing out its CPU resources.

In case you have further concerns or specific performance issues, I’d recommend monitoring your application’s overall performance, not just the CPU usage. Tools like DigitalOcean’s monitoring and alerting features can be really helpful here.

Hope that this helps and let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Bobby

KFSys
Site Moderator
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January 16, 2024

Hey @2853b360e335446b8b0cd7754a,

What do you mean by limited at 15%? As mentioned, increasing the CPU amount means that you have more processing power at your disposal. This would mean that if your processes are using the same CPU, the percentages would be lower.

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