[chrsjxn]

100% is an odd choice for a utilization target.

Just about every service I've ever monitored has had some fairly clear inflection points where higher utilization starts to affect performance. It could be things like more time spent on garbage collection, or just unlucky collisions with async work that make things take longer.

[steve_gh]

Basic queueing theory says 100% load is not possible with any sort of variance in the arrival rate or service rate.

Realistically 70% is a good starting point for a max continuous load - then tune it. You might end up a bit lower or higher