lksoh, you must be misunderstanding. Decker is not talking about resource usage, he is talking about the management of a server. I have a couple servers with different specs. I don't cram them full to their hearts content because they come with 240gigs of HDD space. You manage the server due to what you think is best. If my server load goes over 3.00, I buy another server. No that is not 10%, its just making sure my clients get what they pay for, and that is speed and stability. I honestly think it is better to have 5 servers than 1 supreme server. Cause when that 1 server goes down, everyone goes down with it.
When hosts put up a 10% limit, that is because they are trying to cram everything on one server to scrimp on money. And for most hosts, it doesnt matter if you have a dual xeon or single 1.3 celeron, your still connecting to the same 10 or 100mbits connection. And I can have one site only on each of those servers and it will perform IDENTICAL because of the fact that most people don't surf using anything over a T1.