diff --git a/extra/gemm/amd_uop_matmul.py b/extra/gemm/amd_uop_matmul.py
index 22246c31f4..f970680072 100644
--- a/extra/gemm/amd_uop_matmul.py
+++ b/extra/gemm/amd_uop_matmul.py
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ def hl_spec_kernel3():
   a = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, dtypes.float.ptr(N*N), arg=1).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((N,N)))
   b = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, dtypes.float.ptr(N*N), arg=2).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((N,N))).permute((1,0))
   c = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, dtypes.float.ptr(N*N), arg=0).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((N,N)))
-  As = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_LOCAL, dtypes.float.ptr(BK*BM, AddrSpace.LOCAL), arg=0).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((BK*BM,)))
-  Bs = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_LOCAL, dtypes.float.ptr(BK*BN, AddrSpace.LOCAL), arg=1).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((BK*BN,)))
+  As = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_LOCAL, dtypes.float.ptr(BK*BM, AddrSpace.LOCAL), arg=0).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((BK, BM))).permute((1,0))
+  Bs = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_LOCAL, dtypes.float.ptr(BK*BN, AddrSpace.LOCAL), arg=1).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((BK, BN))).permute((1,0))
   A_col = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_REG, dtypes.float.ptr(nbIterWaveM * TM, AddrSpace.REG), arg=0).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((nbIterWaveM * TM,)))
   B_row = UOp(Ops.DEFINE_REG, dtypes.float.ptr(nbIterWaveN * TN, AddrSpace.REG), arg=1).view(ShapeTracker.from_shape((nbIterWaveN * TN,)))
 
@@ -78,14 +78,36 @@ def hl_spec_kernel3():
   A_col = A_col.reshape((1, nbIterWaveM, 1, TM, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1)).expand(full_shape)
   B_row = B_row.reshape((1, 1, 1, 1, 1, nbIterWaveN, 1, TN, 1, 1)).expand(full_shape)
 
+  #                     U1   L2 L3 L4 L5   U6 U7      U9   L10 L11 L12 L13   U14 U15      U17  U18  U19
+  expanded_shape = (32, 2,   2, 2, 2, 2,   2, 2,  32, 2,   2,  2,  2,  2,    2,  2,  512, 2,   2,   2)
+  assert len(expanded_shape) == 20
+  permute_a = list(range(len(expanded_shape)))
+  permute_b = permute_a[:]
+
+  # this makes all the global loads match
+  # this can also be more simply done by rebinding the RANGEs
+  permute_a[17:20] = [11,12,13]
+  permute_a[11:14] = [17,18,19]
+  permute_a[7], permute_a[10] = permute_a[10], permute_a[7]
+  permute_a[2:7] = [3,4,5,6,2]
+
+  permute_b[2:16] = [19,9,10,11,17,18,8,2,12,13,14,15,3,4]
+  permute_b[17:20] = [5,6,7]
+
+  a_permute   = a.reshape(expanded_shape).permute(tuple(permute_a)).reshape(full_shape)
+  As_permute = As.reshape(expanded_shape).permute(tuple(permute_a)).reshape(full_shape)
+
+  b_permute   = b.reshape(expanded_shape).permute(tuple(permute_b)).reshape(full_shape)
+  Bs_permute = Bs.reshape(expanded_shape).permute(tuple(permute_b)).reshape(full_shape)
+
   #out = (a.load() * b.load()).r(Ops.ADD, (8, 9))
-  out = (As.load(As.store(a.load())) * Bs.load(Bs.store(b.load()))).r(Ops.ADD, (8, 9))
+  out = (As.load(As_permute.store(a_permute.load())) * Bs.load(Bs_permute.store(b_permute.load()))).r(Ops.ADD, (8, 9))
   #out = (A_col.load(A_col.store(As.load(As.store(a.load())))) * B_row.load(B_row.store(Bs.load(Bs.store(b.load()))))).r(Ops.ADD, (8, 9))
 
   axis_types = (
     AxisType.GLOBAL, AxisType.UPCAST, AxisType.LOCAL, AxisType.UPCAST,
     AxisType.GLOBAL, AxisType.UPCAST, AxisType.LOCAL, AxisType.UPCAST,
-    AxisType.REDUCE, AxisType.UNROLL)
+    AxisType.REDUCE, AxisType.REDUCE)
 
   sink = c.store(out).sink(arg=KernelInfo(name="tg_"+to_colored(full_shape, axis_types), axis_types=axis_types))
   sink = graph_rewrite(sink, merge_views)
diff --git a/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py b/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py
index 0b14577552..be6472951a 100644
--- a/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py
+++ b/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ base_rewrite = PatternMatcher([
    lambda ctx,buf,idx: f"({ctx[buf]}+{strip_parens(ctx[idx]) if idx.arg == Ops.ADD else ctx[idx]})"),
   (UPat(Ops.LOAD, src=(UPat(Ops.INDEX, src=(UPat(), UPat(), UPat.var("gate"))).or_casted("bidx"), UPat.var("var")), allow_any_len=True),
    lambda ctx,bidx,var,gate: f"({ctx[gate]}?*{ctx[bidx]}:{ctx[var]})"),
-  (UPat(Ops.LOAD, src=(UPat.var('bidx'),), allow_any_len=True), lambda ctx,bidx: f"*{ctx[bidx]}"),
+  (UPat(Ops.LOAD, src=(UPat.var('bidx'),), allow_any_len=True), lambda ctx,bidx: f"(*{ctx[bidx]})"),
   (UPat(Ops.STORE, src=(UPat.var('bidx'), UPat.var("var")), allow_any_len=True), lambda ctx,bidx,var: f"*{ctx[bidx]} = {ctx[var]};"),
   # alu/gep
   # TODO: look for left-associative
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ class CStyleLanguage(Renderer):
 
       if u.op in {Ops.ENDIF, Ops.ENDRANGE}: depth -= 1
       if (u.op is not Ops.CAST or u.dtype.vcount == 1) and (u.op in {Ops.CONST, Ops.GEP, Ops.INDEX, Ops.CUSTOMI} or \
+        (u.op is Ops.LOAD and cast(PtrDType, u.src[0].dtype).addrspace == AddrSpace.REG) or \
         (u.op in {Ops.VECTORIZE, *(GroupOp.ALU-{Ops.WHERE}), Ops.CAST, Ops.BITCAST} and child_count[u] == 1 and not getenv("EXPAND_SSA"))):
         r[u] = l
       else: