diff --git a/balancer/balancer.go b/balancer/balancer.go
index 3a05726032..709fa91d0a 100644
--- a/balancer/balancer.go
+++ b/balancer/balancer.go
@@ -105,14 +105,18 @@ func (b *Balancer) Push(work Task) {
 }
 
 func (b *Balancer) balance(work chan Task) {
-	for {
-		select {
-		case w := <-b.done: // worker is done
+	go func() {
+		// worker is done
+		for w := range b.done {
 			b.completed(w) // handle worker
-		case task := <-work: // get task
+		}
+	}()
+	go func() {
+		// get task
+		for task := range work {
 			b.dispatch(task) // dispatch the tasks
 		}
-	}
+	}()
 }
 
 // dispatch dispatches the tasks to the least loaded worker.
diff --git a/core/block_work.go b/core/block_work.go
index d45559e2a5..5eb5e51e6b 100644
--- a/core/block_work.go
+++ b/core/block_work.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package core
 
 import (
 	"math"
+	"runtime"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/balancer"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core/types"
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ func balanceTxWork(b *balancer.Balancer, txs types.Transactions) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	workSize := len(txs) / 4
+	workSize := len(txs) / runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)
 
 	errch := make(chan error, int(math.Ceil(float64(len(txs))/float64(workSize)))) // error channel (buffered)
 	for i := 0; i < len(txs); i += workSize {
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ func balanceTxWork(b *balancer.Balancer, txs types.Transactions) {
 }
 
 func balanceBlockWork(b *balancer.Balancer, blocks []*types.Block, checker pow.PoW) chan nonceResult {
-	workSize := len(blocks) / 4
+	workSize := len(blocks) / runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)
 
 	var (
 		nonceResults = make(chan nonceResult, len(blocks))                                      // the nonce result channel (buffered)
diff --git a/core/blockchain.go b/core/blockchain.go
index 5fca8a1584..c21f58b47c 100644
--- a/core/blockchain.go
+++ b/core/blockchain.go
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ func NewBlockChain(chainDb ethdb.Database, pow pow.PoW, mux *event.TypeMux) (*Bl
 		blockCache:   blockCache,
 		futureBlocks: futureBlocks,
 		pow:          pow,
-		balancer:     balancer.New(runtime.NumCPU()),
+		balancer:     balancer.New(runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)),
 	}
 	// Seed a fast but crypto originating random generator
 	seed, err := crand.Int(crand.Reader, big.NewInt(math.MaxInt64))