diff --git a/runtime/cfg.c b/runtime/cfg.c
index 36e3263e..96d8867f 100644
--- a/runtime/cfg.c
+++ b/runtime/cfg.c
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ static const CfgMeta metas[] = {
     {"COOP_ACCEPT", "ask", NULL, LIVE},
     // Advanced: scheduling
     {"ASYNC_PREEMPT", "1", "0|1|2", RESTART}, {"REPLAY_ASYNC", "0", "0|1", RESTART},
-    {"REPLAY_WORKERS", "0", "0..16", RESTART}, {"REPLAY_PIPE", "0", "0..4", RESTART},
+    {"REPLAY_WORKERS", "3", "0..16", RESTART}, {"REPLAY_PIPE", "0", "0..4", RESTART},
     {"FREE_CORES", "0", "0|1", RESTART}, {"TIMER_1MS", "1", "0|1", RESTART},
     // dynamic resolution (dynres.c): the scene follows the GPU time toward DYN_RES_TARGET milliseconds
     {"DYN_RES", "0", "0|1", LIVE}, {"DYN_RES_TARGET", "16.7", "1..100", LIVE}, {"DYN_RES_STEP", "45", "8..600", LIVE},
diff --git a/runtime/vk_exec.c b/runtime/vk_exec.c
index c1c846bb..eea5ce3e 100644
--- a/runtime/vk_exec.c
+++ b/runtime/vk_exec.c
@@ -1760,7 +1760,10 @@ static void op_one(VkExec *ex, const op_hdr *h) {
     }
 }
 
-// ---- replay workers (NX2NAVI_REPLAY_WORKERS, default 0: the replay records every op on the submitting thread)
+// ---- replay workers (NX2NAVI_REPLAY_WORKERS, default 3; 0: the replay records every op on the submitting thread)
+// Default 3: on an RX 7900 XT with a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Hyrule Field standing went from 41.2 to 50.4 fps (2026-11-12, one
+// batch), with the same pictures there and in Kokiri Forest, Kakariko, Goron City, a graveyard house and Gerudo
+// Valley; 5 or 7 workers measured the same as 3.
 // A submission's draws come in runs between ops that have to stay in the replay's order on its own thread (dispatches,
 // copies, texture and buffer clears, events, the game's barriers, calls). Hyrule Field, standing (NX2NAVI_REPLAY_RUNS,
 // 2026-11-11): about 3,500 draws a frame in 82 runs, 96% of them in runs of 16 draws or more and 67% in runs of 256 or