diff --git a/.github/workflows/bench-pr.yml b/.github/workflows/bench-pr.yml
index 1e4c062f5a2..701c0f28a34 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/bench-pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/bench-pr.yml
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ jobs:
         env:
           RUST_BACKTRACE: full
         run: |
-          target/release_debug/${{ matrix.benchmark.id }} -d gh-json -o results.json
+          bash scripts/bench-taskset.sh target/release_debug/${{ matrix.benchmark.id }} -d gh-json -o results.json
 
       - name: Setup AWS CLI
         if: github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork == false
diff --git a/.github/workflows/bench.yml b/.github/workflows/bench.yml
index 852baa26cda..5f879b5e8e4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/bench.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/bench.yml
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ jobs:
         env:
           RUST_BACKTRACE: full
         run: |
-          target/release_debug/${{ matrix.benchmark.id }} --formats ${{ matrix.benchmark.formats }} -d gh-json -o results.json
+          bash scripts/bench-taskset.sh target/release_debug/${{ matrix.benchmark.id }} --formats ${{ matrix.benchmark.formats }} -d gh-json -o results.json
 
       - name: Setup AWS CLI
         uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v5
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 29d8b7c3590..bf47fe40356 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -110,9 +110,12 @@ jobs:
           uv run --all-packages pytest --benchmark-disable -n auto test/
         working-directory: vortex-python/
 
+      - name: Setup benchmark environment
+        run: sudo bash scripts/setup-benchmark.sh
+
       - name: Pytest Benchmarks - Vortex
         run: |
-          uv run --all-packages pytest --benchmark-only benchmark/
+          bash ../scripts/bench-taskset.sh uv run --all-packages pytest --benchmark-only benchmark/
         working-directory: vortex-python/
 
       - name: Doctest - PyVortex
@@ -743,7 +746,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run benchmarks
         uses: CodSpeedHQ/action@281164b0f014a4e7badd2c02cecad9b595b70537
         with:
-          run: cargo codspeed run
+          run: bash scripts/bench-taskset.sh cargo codspeed run
           token: ${{ secrets.CODSPEED_TOKEN }}
           mode: "simulation"
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/sql-benchmarks.yml b/.github/workflows/sql-benchmarks.yml
index bb8233ae56e..92edb23f534 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sql-benchmarks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sql-benchmarks.yml
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ jobs:
           OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS: "${{ (inputs.mode != 'pr' || github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork == false) && secrets.OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS || '' }}"
           OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES: "bench-name=${{ matrix.id }}"
         run: |
-          .github/scripts/run-sql-bench.sh "${{ matrix.subcommand }}" "${{ matrix.targets }}" \
+          bash scripts/bench-taskset.sh .github/scripts/run-sql-bench.sh "${{ matrix.subcommand }}" "${{ matrix.targets }}" \
             ${{ matrix.scale_factor && format('--scale-factor {0}', matrix.scale_factor) || '' }}
 
       - name: Run ${{ matrix.name }} benchmark (remote)
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ jobs:
           OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS: "${{ (inputs.mode != 'pr' || github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork == false) && secrets.OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS || '' }}"
           OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES: "bench-name=${{ matrix.id }}"
         run: |
-          .github/scripts/run-sql-bench.sh "${{ matrix.subcommand }}" "${{ matrix.targets }}" \
+          bash scripts/bench-taskset.sh .github/scripts/run-sql-bench.sh "${{ matrix.subcommand }}" "${{ matrix.targets }}" \
             --remote-storage "${{ matrix.remote_storage }}" \
             --benchmark-id "${{ matrix.id }}" \
             ${{ matrix.scale_factor && format('--scale-factor {0}', matrix.scale_factor) || '' }}
diff --git a/scripts/bench-taskset.sh b/scripts/bench-taskset.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a86f6818ab3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/bench-taskset.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright the Vortex contributors
+
+set -Eeu -o pipefail
+
+if [[ $# -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <command> [args...]" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [[ -f /tmp/vortex-benchmark.env ]]; then
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1091
+    source /tmp/vortex-benchmark.env
+fi
+
+
+
+if [[ -z "${BENCH_CPUS:-}" ]]; then
+    cpu_count="$(nproc)"
+    BENCH_CPUS="2-$((cpu_count - 1))"
+fi
+
+if command -v numactl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    exec numactl --physcpubind="$BENCH_CPUS" --localalloc "$@"
+fi
+
+exec taskset -c "$BENCH_CPUS" "$@"
diff --git a/scripts/setup-benchmark.sh b/scripts/setup-benchmark.sh
index d45dad2e7c5..48536092e17 100755
--- a/scripts/setup-benchmark.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup-benchmark.sh
@@ -10,17 +10,24 @@ if [ "$EUID" -ne 0 ]; then
     exit 0
 fi
 
-# Turn off frequency scaling
-for gov in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor; do
-    echo performance > "$gov" 2>/dev/null || true
-done
+# Disable turbo boost so benchmark runs stay at a more stable clock rate.
+[[ -w /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo ]] && echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo || true
+[[ -w /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost ]] && echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost || true
 
 # Really discourage swapping to disk
 sysctl vm.swappiness=0
+swapoff -a || true
+
+# Might be worse if a single application uses the OS
+# https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/measuring-impact-of-numa-migrations-on-performance.html
+sysctl -w kernel.numa_balancing=0
 
 # Disable ASLR - https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.html#randomize-va-space
 sysctl kernel.randomize_va_space=0
 
+# This is a desktop optimization, making sure its disabled
+sysctl -w kernel.sched_autogroup_enabled=0
+
 # Reduce kernel logging to minimum
 dmesg -n 1
 
@@ -33,3 +40,37 @@ systemctl mask ModemManager
 
 # For apparmor specifically, also teardown loaded profiles
 aa-teardown
+
+# Reduce background activity (Ubuntu-specific)
+for unit in \
+  irqbalance \
+  apt-daily.service \
+  apt-daily-upgrade.service \
+  apt-daily.timer \
+  apt-daily-upgrade.timer \
+  motd-news.service \
+  motd-news.timer \
+  apport
+do
+  systemctl disable --now "$unit" 2>/dev/null
+done
+systemctl mask irqbalance 2>/dev/null
+
+CPU_COUNT="$(nproc)"
+HOUSEKEEPING_CPUS="0-1"
+BENCH_CPUS="2-$((CPU_COUNT - 1))"
+
+# Pin all IRQs to housekeeping CPUs
+for f in /proc/irq/[0-9]*/smp_affinity_list; do
+  if [[ -w "$f" ]]; then
+    # Some IRQs are kernel-managed and reject writes with EPERM even as root.
+    echo "$HOUSEKEEPING_CPUS" > "$f" 2>/dev/null || true
+  fi
+done
+
+# Persist CPU affinity ranges for non-root benchmark steps in CI.
+cat > /tmp/vortex-benchmark.env <<EOF
+HOUSEKEEPING_CPUS=$HOUSEKEEPING_CPUS
+BENCH_CPUS=$BENCH_CPUS
+EOF
+chmod 0644 /tmp/vortex-benchmark.env