net_graph shows the calculated "lerp" value and the game client also gives it a color based on whether it thinks it is appropriate. White is normal. Here's what Valve contractor Hidden Path Entertainment says about two other colors (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=1353969):
The Orangebox client does not read the server FPS correctly and can't interpret values over 1000, so if you run your server at over 1000fps, it throws off the first of those two calculations, and your "lerp" will always be colored yellow. Since it's not based on correct data, yellow does not actually mean that there is a problem in this case. But, to be safe, you can double-check your realized server FPS with "rcon stats" to confirm that it's not actually dropping.The indicator will turn yellow if the server's framerate (actual framerate on the remote machine) drops below [the interpolation] interval. This can be used to figure out why all of the objects in the world are no longer moving smoothly. In addition, the indicator will turn orange if the user or server has tuned the ConVars such that the interpolation amount is less than 2 / updaterate. This indicates that if there is any packet loss (or possibly choke if the choke is occurring for long periods of time due to large packets being sent over a low bandwidth rate setting) that the player will likely see sluggishness in the game.
You can change your color back to white by adjusting your server FPS to 1000, or by altering your lerp (through adjusting cl_interp or cl_interp_ratio), but neither is necessary to improve performance.