diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index d7170f846..953262aa4 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ env:
   global:
 #   unfortunately we need this to stay within 50min timelimit given by travis.
 #   this also turns off the debug/warning cxxflags
-    - CXXFLAGS="-O2 -Wunreachable-code"
+    - CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=native -mtune=native -Wunreachable-code"
   matrix:
 #    special CXXFLAGS for maximum speed, overrides global CXXFLAGS, CHECK_CLANG is the var that controls if we download and check clang in that travis job
     - CXXFLAGS="${CXXFLAGS} -DCHECK_INTERNAL"
     - MAKEFLAGS="HAVE_RULES=yes" SRCDIR=build VERIFY=1
-    - CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=native -mtune=native" SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
+    - SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
 
 matrix:
 # do notify immediately about it when a job of a build fails.
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ matrix:
 # exclude kernel checking with clang binary, not needed
   exclude:
     - compiler: clang
-      env: CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=native -mtune=native" SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
+      env: SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
 # kernel check can time out during travis rush hour, so make failure of it less grave...
   allow_failures:
-    - env: CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=native -mtune=native" SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
+    - env: SRCDIR=build CHECK_KERNEL=yes
 
 before_install:
 # install needed deps