The top results are using setOnInsert and averaging around 20 or less.
Also notice the increase netIn and locked db! Wow!
The lower (more recent) results are using the original method with a failing update and an insert then retry update request. It successfully reaches 100 updates per second, easy.
See http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/reference/operator/update/setOnInsert/#up._S_setOnInsert
Instead of trying to update and then inserting on update failure and trying to update after insert; simply use setOnInsert in the initial update! See https://github.com/Glavin001/Cobra/blob/master/server/index.js#L237-L262