diff --git a/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py b/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py
index 8fdb08120e..03f6636f9e 100644
--- a/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py
+++ b/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 from typing import List, Tuple, Optional, Type, cast, DefaultDict, Dict, Union, Final, Iterator, Sequence, Callable
-import itertools, math, functools
+import itertools, functools
 from collections import defaultdict
 
 from tinygrad.dtype import ImageDType, dtypes, DType, PtrDType
@@ -108,10 +108,8 @@ render_ops: Dict[Type, Callable[..., UOp]]  = {
 
 class Linearizer(Kernel):
   def get_reduce_acc(self, reduceop:LazyOp):
-    if reduceop.op is ReduceOps.SUM: return 0.0 if dtypes.is_float(reduceop.dtype) else 0
-    if reduceop.op is ReduceOps.MAX:
-      if dtypes.is_int(reduceop.dtype): return 0 if dtypes.is_unsigned(reduceop.dtype) else -2**(reduceop.dtype.itemsize*8-1)
-      return -math.inf if dtypes.is_float(reduceop.dtype) else False
+    if reduceop.op is ReduceOps.SUM: return dtypes.as_const(0, reduceop.dtype)
+    if reduceop.op is ReduceOps.MAX: return dtypes.min(reduceop.dtype)
 
   # NOTE: once images are loaded, we uop them as their base float
   def get_base_dtype(self, dt:DType) -> DType: return dt.base if isinstance(dt, ImageDType) else dt
diff --git a/tinygrad/dtype.py b/tinygrad/dtype.py
index 9c1481f282..bf62a6e5c2 100644
--- a/tinygrad/dtype.py
+++ b/tinygrad/dtype.py
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ class dtypes:
   @staticmethod
   def as_const(val: ConstType, dtype:DType): return int(val) if dtypes.is_int(dtype) else float(val) if dtypes.is_float(dtype) else bool(val)
   @staticmethod
+  def min(dtype:DType):
+    if dtypes.is_int(dtype): return 0 if dtypes.is_unsigned(dtype) else -2**(dtype.itemsize*8-1)
+    return -float("inf") if dtypes.is_float(dtype) else False
+  @staticmethod
   def fields() -> Dict[str, DType]: return DTYPES_DICT
   bool: Final[DType] = DType(0, 1, "bool", '?', 1)
   int8: Final[DType] = DType(1, 1, "char", 'b', 1)
diff --git a/tinygrad/lazy.py b/tinygrad/lazy.py
index 5f5217b146..8e13242985 100644
--- a/tinygrad/lazy.py
+++ b/tinygrad/lazy.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
-import math
 from typing import Union, Optional, Any, Tuple, List
 from tinygrad.dtype import dtypes, DType, ConstType
 from tinygrad.helpers import prod, getenv, all_int, all_same, DEBUG
@@ -177,9 +176,7 @@ class LazyBuffer:
   def r(self, op:ReduceOps, axis:Tuple[int, ...]) -> LazyBuffer:
     new_shape = tuple(1 if i in axis else s for i,s in enumerate(self.shape))
     # TODO: this logic should move to the scheduler
-    if self.size == 0 and 0 not in new_shape:
-      # TODO: move base case const to dtype
-      return self.const({ReduceOps.SUM: 0.0, ReduceOps.MAX: -math.inf if self.dtype != dtypes.bool else False}[op], new_shape)
+    if 0 in self.shape and 0 not in new_shape: return self.const({ReduceOps.SUM: 0.0, ReduceOps.MAX: dtypes.min(self.dtype)}[op], new_shape)
 
     # const folding
     # TODO: fold this for symbolic?