diff --git a/coarse_time.go b/coarse_time.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e54dd17cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/coarse_time.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+package mgo
+
+import (
+	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// coarseTimeProvider provides a periodically updated (approximate) time value to
+// amortise the cost of frequent calls to time.Now.
+//
+// A read throughput increase of ~6% was measured when using coarseTimeProvider with the
+// high-precision event timer (HPET) on FreeBSD 11.1 and Go 1.10.1 after merging
+// #116.
+//
+// Calling Now returns a time.Time that is updated at the configured interval,
+// however due to scheduling the value may be marginally older than expected.
+//
+// coarseTimeProvider is safe for concurrent use.
+type coarseTimeProvider struct {
+	once sync.Once
+	stop chan struct{}
+	last atomic.Value
+}
+
+// Now returns the most recently acquired time.Time value.
+func (t *coarseTimeProvider) Now() time.Time {
+	return t.last.Load().(time.Time)
+}
+
+// Close stops the periodic update of t.
+//
+// Any subsequent calls to Now will return the same value forever.
+func (t *coarseTimeProvider) Close() {
+	t.once.Do(func() {
+		close(t.stop)
+	})
+}
+
+// newcoarseTimeProvider returns a coarseTimeProvider configured to update at granularity.
+func newcoarseTimeProvider(granularity time.Duration) *coarseTimeProvider {
+	t := &coarseTimeProvider{
+		stop: make(chan struct{}),
+	}
+
+	t.last.Store(time.Now())
+
+	go func() {
+		ticker := time.NewTicker(granularity)
+		for {
+			select {
+			case <-t.stop:
+				ticker.Stop()
+				return
+			case <-ticker.C:
+				t.last.Store(time.Now())
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+
+	return t
+}
diff --git a/coarse_time_test.go b/coarse_time_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5c98fc65d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/coarse_time_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package mgo
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func TestCoarseTimeProvider(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	const granularity = 50 * time.Millisecond
+
+	ct := newcoarseTimeProvider(granularity)
+	defer ct.Close()
+
+	start := ct.Now().Unix()
+	time.Sleep(time.Second)
+
+	got := ct.Now().Unix()
+	if got <= start {
+		t.Fatalf("got %d, expected at least %d", got, start)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/server.go b/server.go
index 7832bec1b..f34624f74 100644
--- a/server.go
+++ b/server.go
@@ -36,6 +36,18 @@ import (
 	"github.com/globalsign/mgo/bson"
 )
 
+// coarseTime is used to amortise the cost of querying the timecounter (possibly
+// incurring a syscall too) when setting a socket.lastTimeUsed value which
+// happens frequently in the hot-path.
+//
+// The lastTimeUsed value may be skewed by at least 25ms (see
+// coarseTimeProvider).
+var coarseTime *coarseTimeProvider
+
+func init() {
+	coarseTime = newcoarseTimeProvider(25 * time.Millisecond)
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Mongo server encapsulation.
 
@@ -293,7 +305,7 @@ func (server *mongoServer) close(waitForIdle bool) {
 func (server *mongoServer) RecycleSocket(socket *mongoSocket) {
 	server.Lock()
 	if !server.closed {
-		socket.lastTimeUsed = time.Now()
+		socket.lastTimeUsed = coarseTime.Now() // A rough approximation of the current time - see courseTime
 		server.unusedSockets = append(server.unusedSockets, socket)
 	}
 	// If anybody is waiting for a connection, they should try now.