16 Cores 12 GB RAM server MySql Configuration - my.cnf
As a first course of action, I'd watch the output of 'iostat -xk 10 10' to see if the disk IO is saturating the line. 

I notice that you sent specs for your memory system, but not your disk system. What's the underlying array here that you're writing so much to? If you are insert-heavy, then that could play a big part.