diff --git a/src/cpu/testers/memtest/MemTest.py b/src/cpu/testers/memtest/MemTest.py
index 15c329ee85..2d6a0e33c5 100644
--- a/src/cpu/testers/memtest/MemTest.py
+++ b/src/cpu/testers/memtest/MemTest.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class MemTest(ClockedObject):
     percent_reads = Param.Percent(65, "Percentage reads")
     percent_functional = Param.Percent(50, "Percentage functional accesses")
     percent_uncacheable = Param.Percent(10, "Percentage uncacheable")
-    percent_atomic = Param.Percent(50, "Percentage atomics")
+    percent_atomic = Param.Percent(0, "Percentage atomics")
 
     # Determine how often to print progress messages and what timeout
     # to use for checking progress of both requests and responses