Make sure that the database is on a separate physical disk. When sql is the bottle neck the rest will be slow too.
Try adjusting InnoDB to tune it. Use mysqltuner script.
This is a sample config I’m trying on an old 2 core 1.6ghz AMD e-350.
Warning. Do not use O_DSYNC and doublewrite=0 unless you are using a journaling filsystem like btrfs…
[mysqld]
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 2G
innodb_buffer_pool_instances = 2
innodb_file_per_table = 1
innodb_compression_algorithm = lz4
innodb_compression_default = 0
innodb_strict_mode = 1
innodb-doublewrite = 0
innodb_flush_method = O_DSYNC
query_cache_type = 1
query_cache_size = 256M
query_cache_limit = 16M
query_cache_strip_comments = 1
join_buffer_size = 16M
skip-name-resolve = 1