Why do RaQ4is run mod_perl so slowly?

[Philip Mak]

I have a RaQ4i server (450MHz AMD K-6 processor). If I have 20 mod_perl
httpd processes running concurrently, then the system's load average goes
up over 10.0 and CPU usage is 100%. The machine has RAM to spare, so
swapping is not the problem.

Is that the norm for a 450MHz server, or is there something I can do to
make it work better?