diff --git a/scripts/check b/scripts/check
index 473fcfdc..5de6377f 100755
--- a/scripts/check
+++ b/scripts/check
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ run_checks () {
 	fi
 
 	find src/ include/ clients/ t/ \( -name "*.c" -o -name "*.h" \) -type f -print0 |
-	nice xargs -0 --max-args 1 --max-procs $(nproc) \
+	nice xargs -0 --max-args 16 --max-procs $(nproc) \
 		scripts/checkpatch.pl --terse --no-tree --strict --file
 	return $?
 }