As disclosed herein a method, executed by a computer, for providing improved multi-protocol traffic processing includes receiving a data packet, determining if a big processor is activated, deactivating a little processor and activating the big processor if the big processor is not activated and an overflow queue is full, and deactivating the big processor and activating the little processor if the big processor is activated and a current throughput for the big processor is below a first threshold or a sustained throughput for the big processor remains below a second threshold. The big and little processors may be co-located on a single integrated circuit. An overflow queue, managed with a token bucket algorithm, may be used to enable the little processor to handle short burst of data packet traffic. A computer program product and an apparatus corresponding to the described method are also disclosed herein.