title: Will broken css/image link 404 errors affect server performance under load?
body: <p>I have a few images and a css file on my site that don't exist on the server, so each time a visitor comes Apache throws 3 404 errors in it's log.  The items are hidden on the page, so it does not affect the display of the page.  Our site performs fine in testing and production environment. We recently recieved a 2 day traffic spike of 30,000-40,000 visitors per day and apache slowed to a halt, waiting 22-25 seconds before returning anything to the browser.  </p>
  
  <p>Would the 404 errors thrown on the page change the server performance?  </p>
  
  <p>Is a 404 error more resource-intensive then a normal request?</p>
  
  <p>Any info re: the way Apache handles 404 errors would be appreciated.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks,
  Sj</p>