On Mon, 2014-01-27 at 05:54 +0100, Carsten Emde wrote: 
> It is well conceivable that this or one of the next 3.12.X-rtY 
> versions will remind us of the legendary 2.6.33 RT kernel.

Hm.  I wonder if HRTIMER_SOFTIRQ being processed alone, and at maxed out
priority wouldn't beat 2.6.33-rt on your boxen.  My 64 core box running
-rt9 (minus nohz_full patches) does beat it.

Two hacks attached if you're curious too, one to optionally resurrect
sirq threads, another to kick obnoxious idle_balance().. below the belt.

-Mike