diff --git a/test/test_cache_collector.py b/test/test_cache_collector.py
index 2989f97d32..72f6af1240 100644
--- a/test/test_cache_collector.py
+++ b/test/test_cache_collector.py
@@ -59,8 +59,9 @@ class TestCacheCollector(unittest.TestCase):
     assert cache[0][1][1] == inps[0], "Input should be on its place."
     assert cache[1][1][2] == inps[1], "Input should be on its place."
     assert cache[-1][1][0] == out, "Output does not match."
-    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 4, "Should have 4 buffers in total"
-    assert cache[-1][1][0] == cache[0][1][0], "Should reuse final output buffer as output in 1st kernel"
+    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 5, "Should have 5 buffers in total"
+    # This is not worth added complexity on real models
+    # assert cache[-1][1][0] == cache[0][1][0], "Should reuse final output buffer as output in 1st kernel"
     FAKE_GLOBAL_ALLOCATOR = None
 
   def test_cache_collector_cycle_avoidance(self):
@@ -78,8 +79,8 @@ class TestCacheCollector(unittest.TestCase):
     assert cache[0][1][1] == inps[0], "Input should be on its place."
     assert cache[1][1][2] == inps[1], "Input should be on its place."
     assert cache[-1][1][0] == out, "Output does not match."
-    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 6, "Should have 6 buffers in total"
     assert cache[-1][1][0] != cache[0][1][0] and cache[0][1][0] == cache[3][1][0], "Output buffers from 1st and 4th kernel could not be the same as the 5th."
+    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 6, "Should have 6 buffers in total"
     FAKE_GLOBAL_ALLOCATOR = None
 
   def test_cache_collector_all_alive(self):
@@ -144,7 +145,7 @@ class TestCacheCollector(unittest.TestCase):
       assert cache[i][1][0]._device == '1', f"Device does not match {i}, has {cache[i][1][0]._device}."
     for i in range(3, 6):
       assert cache[i][1][0]._device == '2', f"Device does not match {i}, has {cache[i][1][0]._device}."
-    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 6
+    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 7
     FAKE_GLOBAL_ALLOCATOR = None
 
   def test_cache_collector_anybufs_inputs(self):
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ class TestCacheCollector(unittest.TestCase):
     cache = CacheCollector.finish()
     assert cache[0][1][1] == inps[0], "Input should be on its place."
     assert cache[1][1][2] == inps[1], "Input should be on its place."
-    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 7
+    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 8
     FAKE_GLOBAL_ALLOCATOR = None
 
   def test_cache_collector_optimize_when_not_cached_anymore(self):
@@ -201,7 +202,7 @@ class TestCacheCollector(unittest.TestCase):
     assert cache[1][1][2] == inps[1], "Input should be on its place."
     assert cache[-1][1][0] == out, "Output does not match."
     assert cache[0][1][0] != cache[3][1][0], "Cannot reuse 4th output buffer, it's an output buffer which might ovewrite itself"
-    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 7, "Should have 7 buffers in total"
+    assert get_bufs_count(cache) == 6, "Should have 6 buffers in total"
     FAKE_GLOBAL_ALLOCATOR = None
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/tinygrad/jit.py b/tinygrad/jit.py
index 1fce6044c8..3f1f353ff6 100644
--- a/tinygrad/jit.py
+++ b/tinygrad/jit.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from typing import Callable, List, Tuple, Any, Dict, cast, Union, Optional, Set
 from weakref import ref
 from collections import defaultdict
 import functools, itertools
-from tinygrad.helpers import DEBUG, DType, merge_dicts
+from tinygrad.helpers import DEBUG, DType, merge_dicts, ImageDType
 from tinygrad.ops import RawBuffer, Device, BasicBatchExecutor
 from tinygrad.tensor import Tensor
 from tinygrad.shape.shapetracker import ShapeTracker
@@ -70,63 +70,47 @@ class TinyJit:
 class _CacheCollector:
   class _Placeholder:
     def __init__(self, buf): self.size, self.dtype, self._device, self.ref, self.buftype = buf.size, buf.dtype, getattr(buf, '_device', None), ref(buf), type(buf)
-    def alive(self): return self.ref() is not None
     def alloc_rawbuf(self): return self.buftype(self.size, self.dtype, **({'device':self._device} if self._device is not None else dict()))
 
   def __init__(self):
     self.cache: Optional[List[Tuple[Callable, List[Any], Dict[Any,Any]]]] = None
-    self.placeholders: Dict[RawBuffer, _CacheCollector._Placeholder] = {} # Rawbuffers are replaced with placeholders to allow freeing of the real buffer while collecting cache.
-    self.last_buftype: Dict[Tuple[int,...], int] = {} # Last index of the cached entry where a buffer with the shape (shape is a key) is used as input to the prog.
-    self.last_placeholder_index: Dict[_CacheCollector._Placeholder, int] = {} # Last index where the placeholder is used as output. This allows tracking when we need to stick to the original buffer if it is still alive.
-    self.freed_placeholders: Dict[Tuple[int,...], List[_CacheCollector._Placeholder]] = defaultdict(list)
+    self.placeholders: Dict[ref[RawBuffer], _CacheCollector._Placeholder] = {} # Output rawbufs are replaced with placeholders to allow freeing of the real buffer while collecting cache.
     self.circular_signatures: Set[Any] = set()
-  def start(self):
-    self.cache, self.placeholders, self.last_buftype, self.last_placeholder_index, self.freed_buffers, self.circular_signatures = [], {}, {}, {}, defaultdict(list), set()
+  def start(self): self.cache, self.placeholders, self.circular_signatures = [], {}, set()
   def add(self, prg, rawbufs, var_vals):
     if self.cache is None: return
-    # When we got buffers with the same signature, we can use just 1(max 2, see cycle avoidance below) buffer insted of all of them.
-    # Current implementation of a signature is an underlying buffer, because if 2 or more different RawBuffers shares the same, all but the very last are dead.
-    for buf in rawbufs[1:]:
-      # Check if the input matches any of placeholder to determine if it's existing or newly created input.
-      # In case of newly created input remove placeholder and capture the whole buffer.
-      if isinstance(buf, RawBuffer) and self._get_signature(buf) in self.placeholders and self.placeholders[self._get_signature(buf)].ref != ref(buf):
-        self.placeholders.pop(self._get_signature(buf))
-      if isinstance(buf, RawBuffer) and self._get_signature(buf) not in self.placeholders:
-        self.last_buftype[self._buftype_key(buf)] = len(self.cache)
-
-    # Creating/updating a placeholder for the current output buffer. If we update output, set the ref to point to the new RawBuffer,
-    # since the previous RawBuffer is dead (overwise we won't get a new RawBuffer with the same signature). Do not care about dead buffers, they 100% could be replaced with any other buffer.
-    if self._get_signature(rawbufs[0]) in self.placeholders: self.placeholders[self._get_signature(rawbufs[0])].ref = ref(rawbufs[0])
-    else:
-      # This is a new output buffer. Try to reuse any freed placeholders with the same type to "merge" these buffers.
-      # If this output buffer is "output_buffer", reusage of the output buffer is scary.
-      plh = self.freed_placeholders[self._buftype_key(rawbufs[0])].pop() if self._get_signature(rawbufs[0]) not in self.circular_signatures and self.freed_placeholders[self._buftype_key(rawbufs[0])] else _CacheCollector._Placeholder(rawbufs[0])
-      self.placeholders.setdefault(self._get_signature(rawbufs[0]), plh).ref = ref(rawbufs[0])
-    self.last_placeholder_index[self.placeholders[self._get_signature(rawbufs[0])]] = len(self.cache)
-    self.cache.append((prg,[self.placeholders.get(self._get_signature(x), x) for x in rawbufs],var_vals))
+    # Substitute output buffers with placeholders to find the most optimal reusage.
+    if ref(rawbufs[0]) not in self.placeholders: self.placeholders[ref(rawbufs[0])] = _CacheCollector._Placeholder(rawbufs[0])
+    cached_rawbufs = [self.placeholders.get(ref(buf), buf) if isinstance(buf, RawBuffer) and ref(buf) not in self.circular_signatures else buf for buf in rawbufs]
+    self.cache.append((prg, cached_rawbufs, var_vals))
   def finish(self):
     if self.cache is None: return []
-    placeholder_mapper, cache_result = {}, []
-    for j,(p,cached_bufs,var_vals) in enumerate(self.cache):
-      if cached_bufs[0].__class__ is _CacheCollector._Placeholder:
-        if cached_bufs[0].alive():
-          # Since the placeholder is alive (someone holds refed RawBuffer) to avoid hazards when this output buffer could be used as input on the other launch (e.g., LSTM),
-          # we allocate a backing buffer and and use it until the penultimate entry (the last entry is 100% safe to use the original RawBuffer).
-          if self.last_buftype.get(self._buftype_key(cached_bufs[0]), -1) < j or self.last_placeholder_index[cached_bufs[0]] == j:
-            # Safe to use the original buffer when all inputs buffers of the same size and dtype are behind or this is the last usage of this buffer as output.
-            placeholder_mapper[cached_bufs[0]] = cached_bufs[0].ref()
-          elif cached_bufs[0] not in placeholder_mapper:
-            placeholder_mapper[cached_bufs[0]] = cached_bufs[0].alloc_rawbuf() # Allocating a backing buffer.
-        elif cached_bufs[0] not in placeholder_mapper:
-          placeholder_mapper[cached_bufs[0]] = cached_bufs[0].alloc_rawbuf()
-      cache_result.append((p, [placeholder_mapper.get(buf, buf) for buf in cached_bufs], var_vals))
-    self.cache, self.placeholders, self.last_buftype, self.last_placeholder_index, self.freed_buffers, self.circular_signatures = None, {}, {}, {}, defaultdict(list), set()
+
+    rawbuf_pool: List[Tuple[RawBuffer, List[Tuple[int, int]]]] = []
+    buf_usage_bounds: Dict[_CacheCollector._Placeholder, Tuple[int, int]] = {}
+    buf_map: Dict[_CacheCollector._Placeholder, RawBuffer] = {}
+
+    for j,(_,bufs,_) in enumerate(self.cache):
+      for buf in bufs:
+        if buf.__class__ is not _CacheCollector._Placeholder: continue
+        if buf.ref() is not None: buf_map[buf] = buf.ref() # rawbufs that are referenced are not replaced but are used as is.
+        else: buf_usage_bounds[buf] = buf_usage_bounds.get(buf, (j, j))[0], j
+
+    # The query list contains a query for every placeholder that should be replaced with the actual rawbuffer. Queries are served from the largest to the smallest.
+    # For each query, find any rawbuffer that is free within the query timeframe or allocate a new one.
+    query_list = sorted([(buf.size*buf.dtype.itemsize, buf_usage_bounds[buf][0], buf_usage_bounds[buf][1], buf) for buf in buf_usage_bounds.keys()], key=lambda x: x[0], reverse=True)
+    for _, start, end, buf in query_list:
+      pool_idx = next((i for i,(with_buf, usages) in enumerate(rawbuf_pool) if self._can_substitute(buf, with_buf) and self._no_intersect(start,end,usages)), -1)
+      if pool_idx == -1:
+        rawbuf_pool.append((buf.alloc_rawbuf(), []))
+        pool_idx = len(rawbuf_pool) - 1
+      buf_map[buf] = rawbuf_pool[pool_idx][0]
+      rawbuf_pool[pool_idx][1].append((start, end))
+
+    cache_result = [(p, [buf_map.get(buf, buf) for buf in cached_bufs], var_vals) for p, cached_bufs, var_vals in self.cache]
+    self.cache = None
     return cache_result
-  def _mark_output_buffer(self, output_buffer): self.circular_signatures.add(self._get_signature(output_buffer))
-  def _on_buf_free(self, underlying_buf):
-    if underlying_buf not in self.placeholders: return
-    self.freed_placeholders[self._buftype_key(self.placeholders[underlying_buf])].append(self.placeholders[underlying_buf])
-    self.placeholders.pop(underlying_buf)
-  def _get_signature(self, buf): return buf._buf if getattr(buf, '_buf', None) is not None and getattr(buf, '_allocator', None) is not None else buf
-  def _buftype_key(self, buf): return (buf.size, buf.dtype, buf._device, buf.dtype.shape if hasattr(buf.dtype, 'shape') else None)
+  def _no_intersect(self, start:int, end:int, usages:List[Tuple[int, int]]): return all(en < start or end < st for st, en in usages)
+  def _can_substitute(self, buf, with_buf): return buf._device==with_buf._device and (buf.size*buf.dtype.itemsize<=with_buf.size*with_buf.dtype.itemsize if not isinstance(buf.dtype, ImageDType) and not isinstance(with_buf.dtype, ImageDType) else buf.size==with_buf.size and buf.dtype==with_buf.dtype and buf.dtype.shape==with_buf.dtype.shape)
+  def _mark_output_buffer(self, output_buffer): self.circular_signatures.add(ref(output_buffer))
 CacheCollector = _CacheCollector()
diff --git a/tinygrad/runtime/lib.py b/tinygrad/runtime/lib.py
index 88bf32b212..5b67467930 100644
--- a/tinygrad/runtime/lib.py
+++ b/tinygrad/runtime/lib.py
@@ -92,8 +92,6 @@ class LRUAllocator:
     self.buffer_info[newbuf] = (size, dtype, device)
     return newbuf
   def _free_buffer(self, buf_to_free):
-    from tinygrad.jit import CacheCollector
-    CacheCollector._on_buf_free(buf_to_free)
     self.free_space[self.buffer_info[buf_to_free][2]] += self._underlying_buf_memsz(buf_to_free)
     GlobalCounters.mem_cached -= self._underlying_buf_memsz(buf_to_free)
     self.buffer_info.pop(buf_to_free)