Server hardening without "If" conditions

[pk899]

Hi. I notice that nginx with just the location rules and usual
directives results in mind-blowing performance. Apache Bench test shows
"115,000 requests per second" can be handled. 

However, when I add a simple rule: 

    if ($request_method !~ ^(GET|HEAD|POST)$ ) {
      return 444;
    }

Which I think is important from a point of view of getting rid of so
much junk that hits any modern server, the requests per second fall to
"1,200" !!!

Is there any way around this? I would, if possible, prefer that my main
web server be able to handle such basic stuff. 

Welcome any thoughts. Thanks!

Posted at Nginx Forum: http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,202965,202965#msg-202965