How should I reduce my server load

I have a P3/850 with 2GB of RAM with 30GB 7200rpm HD. Though the CPU is dual capable, the memory is not upgradeable further (2GB max). I am hosting two forums (with VB) on that server with total users online about max at around 350. One of the two forums has a total users online of max around 300. The CPU load is not as low as I expected. Before I add a second forum, the max server load was was around 1.2 for the 15 minutes average (only for a while, when the forum got 250-300 concurrent users online) and mostly it's around 0.5. But today, it just got to around 3 (again 15 minutes average), although the web pages are still loaded reasonably fast.

Any apache/mysql configurations I need to change? FYI, apache is 1.3.20 and mysql is 3.23.32

Currently, this is my /etc/my.cnf:

[mysqld]
port = 3306
socket = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
skip-locking
set-variable = max_connections=350
set-variable = key_buffer=384M
set-variable = max_allowed_packet=1M
set-variable = table_cache=1024
set-variable = sort_buffer=8M
set-variable = record_buffer=5M
set-variable = thread_cache=1024
set-variable = thread_cache_size=256
set-variable = thread_concurrency=4 # Try number of CPU's*2
set-variable = myisam_sort_buffer_size=64M
log-bin
server-id = 1
and my apache httpd.conf

MinSpareServers 2
MaxSpareServers 5
StartServers 2
MaxClients 300
I have tried to increase the values for MinspareServers and MaxSpareservers to 10 and 15 respectively, and it did not reduce the server load. I read somewhere telling that it might be better to reduce these values, especially for mysql driven sites, and hence I reduced them to 2 and 5 respectively.

Also, I wonder ... how much will the second CPU help in this case?

I just visited forums.anandtech.com ... The total users online was around 800! The site loads very fast! I wonder what kind of hardware specs they have on the server. Also, are they using VB?

your inputs/suggestions will be appreciated

cheers,
How should I reduce my server load

 

 

 

 

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