JMeter can simulate a very High Load provided you use it right.
Don’t listen to Urban Legends that say JMeter cannot handle high load.
Now as for answer, it depends on:
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your machine power
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your jvm 32 bits or 64 bits
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your jvm allocated memory -Xmx
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your test plan ( lot of beanshell, post processor, xpath … Means lots of cpu)
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your os configuration (tunable)
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Gui / non gui mode
So there is no theorical answer but following Best Practices will ensure JMeter performs well.
Note that with jmeter you can distribute load through remote testing, read:
- Remote Testing > 15.4 Using a different sample sender
And finally use cloud based testing if it’s not enough.
Read this for tuning tips:
- http://www.ubik-ingenierie.com/blog/jmeter_performance_tuning_tips/
Read this book for doing load testing and using JMeter correctly.