Multiple Job Queue setup

Does anyone know if there is a formula to how many job queues you can setup on an Application Server based on RAM and # of processors?

As a rule of thumb, I normally suggest the number of CPU's minus 1 for Windows servers, on UNIX & AS/400 you have more control. On my AS/400 I allow 20 UBE's on my 4-way.

The rule of thumb that I use for an NT server is 2 queues per processor.

I may be splitting hairs here but the rule of thumb I use is 2 *actively* processing jobs per CPU and not 2 queues per CPU.

If you specify 2 queues per CPU you may have a queue that does infrequent processing and you will not get the most out of the available CPU power.

I tested this a few years ago on a Pentium Pro 500 4-way on Windows NT4.0. I can't remember how much memory was in the machine.

I found that we could run three jobs per processor without killing the machine. When we ran four per processor the processors hit 100% and the jobs slowed right down.

Thank you all for the help