mjhjmtu

I have been trying to understand what is the maximum load average I can go in Ubuntu.

when I run,

cat /proc/cpuinfo

It produces this,

processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.866
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 0
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.982
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 1
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 2
initial apicid : 2
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 2
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.885
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 2
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 4
initial apicid : 4
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 3
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.982
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 3
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 6
initial apicid : 6
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 4
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.887
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 0
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 5
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.916
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 1
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 3
initial apicid : 3
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 6
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.873
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 2
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 5
initial apicid : 5
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 7
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 94
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
stepping : 3
microcode : 0xc6
cpu MHz : 3699.990
cache size : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 8
core id : 3
cpu cores : 4
apicid : 7
initial apicid : 7
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 22
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp flush_l1d
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips : 6816.00
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

It list total of 8 CPUs (0-7) and each cpu has cpu cores : 4.

Does that mean Max load average i can achieve is 8*4 = 32 ?

No, the cores is telling you how many physical cores are on the CPU. Each 'processor' reported represents a logical processor and there are two logical processors per core on a hyperthreaded Intel processor. So you have 4 cores x 2 logical processors per core = 8 total processors. So you can have a maximum CPU utilization of 800%.

To understand how you determine how many cores and how many logical processors per core there are you have to look in more detail at the CPU information reported. Linux will just report how many 'processors' it finds, 8 in this case, but it won't tell you in an immediately obvious way how it determined that from the cpuinfo. For that, you have to look at a few different bits of information that it reports:

physical id - this tells us which socket the processor is from (i.e. the physical chip inside your computer.) All of the processors report 0 here so we know there's only one socket.

cpu cores - tells us how many distinct processing units exist inside the socket, which in this case is 4.

core id - tells us which cpu core a processor belongs to. This indirectly tells us how many hyperthreads the core supports. You'll notice that there are two processors reported for each core id (0, 1, 2 and 3.) Also, if you look at the flags parameter you'll see ht listed which indicates hyperthreading. Every consumer processor Intel has released to date with hyperthreading has two execution threads per core, so you can confirm it that way as well.

So you take the number of sockets * number of cores * number of threads (1 * 4 * 2) and you get 8 processors which matches what cpuinfo is telling us. You can also confirm this by looking at the Intel product page for your processor (as reported by model name) https://ark.intel.com/products/88196/Intel-Core-i7-6700-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4-00-GHz- and you'll see under Performance they list the processor as having 4 cores supporting 8 execution threads