diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-aarch64.yml b/.github/workflows/test-aarch64.yml
index 3be1ca6d..50418eba 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-aarch64.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-aarch64.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ jobs:
           curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh -s -- -y
           echo "$HOME/.cargo/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
       - name: Test
-        run: |
-          make test
+        run: make test
       - name: Stress test
-        run: |
-          make stress
+        run: make stress
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 35e57665..366cd946 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1046,6 +1046,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "env_logger",
  "libstress",
  "log",
+ "num_cpus",
  "rand",
  "skytable",
  "sysinfo",
diff --git a/stress-test/Cargo.toml b/stress-test/Cargo.toml
index c4abfffc..c0e5f654 100644
--- a/stress-test/Cargo.toml
+++ b/stress-test/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,3 +17,4 @@ env_logger = "0.8.4"
 log = "0.4.14"
 rand = "0.8.4"
 crossbeam-channel = "0.5.1"
+num_cpus = "1.13.0"
diff --git a/stress-test/src/main.rs b/stress-test/src/main.rs
index ebbaa9d0..d646a731 100644
--- a/stress-test/src/main.rs
+++ b/stress-test/src/main.rs
@@ -56,12 +56,10 @@ fn main() {
     // get the rng and refresh sysinfo
     let mut rng = thread_rng();
     // we only need to refresh memory and CPU info; don't waste time syncing other things
-    let to_refresh = RefreshKind::new().with_memory().with_cpu();
+    let to_refresh = RefreshKind::new().with_memory();
     let mut sys = System::new_with_specifics(to_refresh);
     sys.refresh_specifics(to_refresh);
-    let core_count = sys
-        .get_physical_core_count()
-        .exit_error("Failed to get physical core count");
+    let core_count = num_cpus::get();
     let max_workers = core_count * 2;
     trace!(
         "This host has {} logical cores. Will spawn a maximum of {} threads",