Where are you getting "normal" from? for each processor present on the server, a load of 1 is 100% usage.

I consider this neither normal nor acceptable, but maybe thats just me.

The lower the load numbers, it's always going to be better for server and performance. But - and this kinda contradicts what I have said before - server load numbers can end up being more confusing than anything. Regardless of server load, if the sites on the server perform flawlessly and don't appear to bogged down, then those numbers can mean nothing more the number of processes waiting to pass through the CPU and do not necessarily reflect how "loaded" the server is because the sites are performing flawlessly.

The reason I said "normal" load is that in my experience as a webhost, the performance drop when the load hits 1.0 (even on a single processor machine) is marginally insignificant to be worried about the server being "loaded" (other than the number 1.0).

I currently have my site hosted with bluehost (in the process of moving to another host). I too run a boat load of different mods on my site, but my server load is minimal:

CMPS [index.php]
Page generated in 0.55546904 seconds (62.32% PHP - 37.68% MySQL) with 42 queries
2.59 : 3.03 : 3.29

I still have problems with server overload though. I can't even run basic vbulletin scripts like rebuild post cache w/out running into a problem with Bluehost. For the most part, my site runs fairly fast, but I hope to make some changes (mainly the type of datastore used).

FORUM [index.php]
Page generated in 0.82686806 seconds (75.23% PHP - 24.77% MySQL) with 46 queries
3.52 : 3.06 : 3.22