diff --git a/selfdrive/boardd/spi.cc b/selfdrive/boardd/spi.cc
index 9a10e30f95..d418d2bdac 100644
--- a/selfdrive/boardd/spi.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/boardd/spi.cc
@@ -57,9 +57,12 @@ PandaSpiHandle::PandaSpiHandle(std::string serial) : PandaCommsHandle(serial) {
   uint8_t uid[uid_len] = {0};
 
   uint32_t spi_mode = SPI_MODE_0;
-  uint32_t spi_speed = 30000000;
   uint8_t spi_bits_per_word = 8;
 
+  // 50MHz is the max of the 845. note that some older
+  // revs of the comma three may not support this speed
+  uint32_t spi_speed = 50000000;
+
   spi_fd = open(SPI_DEVICE.c_str(), O_RDWR);
   if (spi_fd < 0) {
     LOGE("failed opening SPI device %d", spi_fd);