diff --git a/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py b/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py
index 4145e88589..fa850fee6a 100644
--- a/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py
+++ b/tinygrad/codegen/linearizer.py
@@ -545,10 +545,12 @@ class Linearizer:
       else:
         break
 
-    # if last dim <= 16 and it's a reduce dim, upcast the reduce (loop unrolling). no simplify needed since it's just an upcast. NOTE: careful, this has broken VALIDHACKS
+    # if last dim is small(ish) and it's a reduce dim, upcast the reduce (loop unrolling). no simplify needed since it's just an upcast. NOTE: careful, this has broken VALIDHACKS
     if self.first_reduce < (self.shape_len-self.upcasted) and (len(list(self.shape_offsets(self.full_buf_index))) <= 4 or not any(r for _,_,r in self.upcasted_axis(self.full_buf_index))):
-      if self.full_unupcasted_shape[-1] <= 16:
+      if (s:=self.full_unupcasted_shape[-1]) <= 32:
         self.upcast()
+        # if it's small, upcast a second reduce dimension too
+        if self.first_reduce < (self.shape_len-self.upcasted) and s <= 3 and self.full_unupcasted_shape[-1] <= 3: self.upcast()
       else:
         for splits in [4]:
           if self.full_unupcasted_shape[-1]%splits == 0: