diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.c
index 09ed48833b54..a492385b2089 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.c
@@ -732,13 +732,13 @@ i915_request_alloc(struct intel_engine_cs *engine, struct i915_gem_context *ctx)
 	rq = kmem_cache_alloc(i915->requests,
 			      GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL | __GFP_NOWARN);
 	if (unlikely(!rq)) {
+		i915_retire_requests(i915);
+
 		/* Ratelimit ourselves to prevent oom from malicious clients */
-		ret = i915_gem_wait_for_idle(i915,
-					     I915_WAIT_LOCKED |
-					     I915_WAIT_INTERRUPTIBLE,
-					     MAX_SCHEDULE_TIMEOUT);
-		if (ret)
-			goto err_unreserve;
+		rq = i915_gem_active_raw(&ce->ring->timeline->last_request,
+					 &i915->drm.struct_mutex);
+		if (rq)
+			cond_synchronize_rcu(rq->rcustate);
 
 		/*
 		 * We've forced the client to stall and catch up with whatever
@@ -758,6 +758,8 @@ i915_request_alloc(struct intel_engine_cs *engine, struct i915_gem_context *ctx)
 		}
 	}
 
+	rq->rcustate = get_state_synchronize_rcu();
+
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&rq->active_list);
 	rq->i915 = i915;
 	rq->engine = engine;
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.h
index 9898301ab7ef..7fa94b024968 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.h
@@ -100,6 +100,14 @@ struct i915_request {
 	struct i915_timeline *timeline;
 	struct intel_signal_node signaling;
 
+	/*
+	 * The rcu epoch of when this request was allocated. Used to judiciously
+	 * apply backpressure on future allocations to ensure that under
+	 * mempressure there is sufficient RCU ticks for us to reclaim our
+	 * RCU protected slabs.
+	 */
+	unsigned long rcustate;
+
 	/*
 	 * Fences for the various phases in the request's lifetime.
 	 *