Readfile CPU Overhead

[Daveg]

Hi all,

I've been setting up a file download script that serves requested files using readfile(). I'm finding that it is grinding my server to a halt when more than a handful of users are downloading concurrently. CPU load averages go massive when this occurs.

Has anyone experienced this? I guess readfile is reading and outputting every byte of say a 100mb video file which is going to be a lot more expensive than a straight HTTP download.

Thanks,

Dave