diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c
index 9d8c08c4b105..9908bba5b3d3 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c
@@ -12955,6 +12955,17 @@ static int intel_atomic_commit(struct drm_device *dev,
 	struct drm_i915_private *dev_priv = to_i915(dev);
 	int ret = 0;
 
+	/*
+	 * The intel_legacy_cursor_update() fast path takes care
+	 * of avoiding the vblank waits for simple cursor
+	 * movement and flips. For cursor on/off and size changes,
+	 * we want to perform the vblank waits so that watermark
+	 * updates happen during the correct frames. Gen9+ have
+	 * double buffered watermarks and so shouldn't need this.
+	 */
+	if (INTEL_GEN(dev_priv) < 9)
+		state->legacy_cursor_update = false;
+
 	ret = drm_atomic_helper_setup_commit(state, nonblock);
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
@@ -13389,8 +13400,7 @@ intel_legacy_cursor_update(struct drm_plane *plane,
 	    old_plane_state->src_h != src_h ||
 	    old_plane_state->crtc_w != crtc_w ||
 	    old_plane_state->crtc_h != crtc_h ||
-	    !old_plane_state->visible ||
-	    old_plane_state->fb->modifier != fb->modifier)
+	    !old_plane_state->fb != !fb)
 		goto slow;
 
 	new_plane_state = intel_plane_duplicate_state(plane);
@@ -13413,10 +13423,6 @@ intel_legacy_cursor_update(struct drm_plane *plane,
 	if (ret)
 		goto out_free;
 
-	/* Visibility changed, must take slowpath. */
-	if (!new_plane_state->visible)
-		goto slow_free;
-
 	ret = mutex_lock_interruptible(&dev_priv->drm.struct_mutex);
 	if (ret)
 		goto out_free;
@@ -13456,9 +13462,12 @@ intel_legacy_cursor_update(struct drm_plane *plane,
 	new_plane_state->fb = old_fb;
 	to_intel_plane_state(new_plane_state)->vma = old_vma;
 
-	intel_plane->update_plane(plane,
-				  to_intel_crtc_state(crtc->state),
-				  to_intel_plane_state(plane->state));
+	if (plane->state->visible)
+		intel_plane->update_plane(plane,
+					  to_intel_crtc_state(crtc->state),
+					  to_intel_plane_state(plane->state));
+	else
+		intel_plane->disable_plane(plane, crtc);
 
 	intel_cleanup_plane_fb(plane, new_plane_state);
 
@@ -13468,8 +13477,6 @@ intel_legacy_cursor_update(struct drm_plane *plane,
 	intel_plane_destroy_state(plane, new_plane_state);
 	return ret;
 
-slow_free:
-	intel_plane_destroy_state(plane, new_plane_state);
 slow:
 	return drm_atomic_helper_update_plane(plane, crtc, fb,
 					      crtc_x, crtc_y, crtc_w, crtc_h,
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_pm.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_pm.c
index c6938350a6c4..b00c95e4a81f 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_pm.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_pm.c
@@ -1841,20 +1841,24 @@ static uint32_t ilk_compute_cur_wm(const struct intel_crtc_state *cstate,
 				   const struct intel_plane_state *pstate,
 				   uint32_t mem_value)
 {
-	/*
-	 * We treat the cursor plane as always-on for the purposes of watermark
-	 * calculation.  Until we have two-stage watermark programming merged,
-	 * this is necessary to avoid flickering.
-	 */
-	int cpp = 4;
-	int width = pstate->base.visible ? pstate->base.crtc_w : 64;
+	int cpp;
 
-	if (!cstate->base.active)
+	/*
+	 * Treat cursor with fb as always visible since cursor updates
+	 * can happen faster than the vrefresh rate, and the current
+	 * watermark code doesn't handle that correctly. Cursor updates
+	 * which set/clear the fb or change the cursor size are going
+	 * to get throttled by intel_legacy_cursor_update() to work
+	 * around this problem with the watermark code.
+	 */
+	if (!cstate->base.active || !pstate->base.fb)
 		return 0;
 
+	cpp = pstate->base.fb->format->cpp[0];
+
 	return ilk_wm_method2(cstate->pixel_rate,
 			      cstate->base.adjusted_mode.crtc_htotal,
-			      width, cpp, mem_value);
+			      pstate->base.crtc_w, cpp, mem_value);
 }
 
 /* Only for WM_LP. */