diff --git a/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-decoder.c b/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-decoder.c
index f3db68abbd9a..0bc3e6e93c31 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-decoder.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/intel-pt-decoder/intel-pt-decoder.c
@@ -251,19 +251,15 @@ struct intel_pt_decoder *intel_pt_decoder_new(struct intel_pt_params *params)
 		if (!(decoder->tsc_ctc_ratio_n % decoder->tsc_ctc_ratio_d))
 			decoder->tsc_ctc_mult = decoder->tsc_ctc_ratio_n /
 						decoder->tsc_ctc_ratio_d;
-
-		/*
-		 * Allow for timestamps appearing to backwards because a TSC
-		 * packet has slipped past a MTC packet, so allow 2 MTC ticks
-		 * or ...
-		 */
-		decoder->tsc_slip = multdiv(2 << decoder->mtc_shift,
-					decoder->tsc_ctc_ratio_n,
-					decoder->tsc_ctc_ratio_d);
 	}
-	/* ... or 0x100 paranoia */
-	if (decoder->tsc_slip < 0x100)
-		decoder->tsc_slip = 0x100;
+
+	/*
+	 * A TSC packet can slip past MTC packets so that the timestamp appears
+	 * to go backwards. One estimate is that can be up to about 40 CPU
+	 * cycles, which is certainly less than 0x1000 TSC ticks, but accept
+	 * slippage an order of magnitude more to be on the safe side.
+	 */
+	decoder->tsc_slip = 0x10000;
 
 	intel_pt_log("timestamp: mtc_shift %u\n", decoder->mtc_shift);
 	intel_pt_log("timestamp: tsc_ctc_ratio_n %u\n", decoder->tsc_ctc_ratio_n);