diff --git a/dashboard/src/models/SystemModel.js b/dashboard/src/models/SystemModel.js
index 356fe0420..0f63e7eaf 100644
--- a/dashboard/src/models/SystemModel.js
+++ b/dashboard/src/models/SystemModel.js
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ function create() {
       return [null, result.body];
     },
     async getMetricStream() {
-      return new EventSource(`${API_ORIGIN}/api/v1/system/metricstream?access_token=${accessToken}`);
+      return new EventSource(`${API_ORIGIN}/api/v1/system/metricstream?access_token=${accessToken}&intervalSecs=3`);
     }
   };
 }
diff --git a/src/metrics.js b/src/metrics.js
index d5f26ec9f..17d270cdc 100644
--- a/src/metrics.js
+++ b/src/metrics.js
@@ -304,8 +304,10 @@ async function getSystem(options) {
     };
 }
 
-async function getSystemStream() {
-    const INTERVAL_SECS = 2;
+async function getSystemStream(options) {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof options, 'object');
+
+    const INTERVAL_SECS = options.intervalSecs || 5;
     let intervalId = null, oldCpuMetrics = null;
 
     const metricsStream = new Readable({
diff --git a/src/routes/system.js b/src/routes/system.js
index 4079b43c0..2769f7019 100644
--- a/src/routes/system.js
+++ b/src/routes/system.js
@@ -119,11 +119,11 @@ async function getLogStream(req, res, next) {
 }
 
 async function getMetrics(req, res, next) {
-    if (!req.query.fromSecs || !parseInt(req.query.fromSecs)) return next(new HttpError(400, 'fromSecs must be a number'));
-    if (!req.query.intervalSecs || !parseInt(req.query.intervalSecs)) return next(new HttpError(400, 'intervalSecs must be a number'));
+    if (!req.query.fromSecs || !parseInt(req.query.fromSecs, 10)) return next(new HttpError(400, 'fromSecs must be a number'));
+    if (!req.query.intervalSecs || !parseInt(req.query.intervalSecs, 10)) return next(new HttpError(400, 'intervalSecs must be a number'));
 
-    const fromSecs = parseInt(req.query.fromSecs);
-    const intervalSecs = parseInt(req.query.intervalSecs);
+    const fromSecs = parseInt(req.query.fromSecs, 10);
+    const intervalSecs = parseInt(req.query.intervalSecs, 10);
     const noNullPoints = !!req.query.noNullPoints;
     const [error, result] = await safe(metrics.getSystem({ fromSecs, intervalSecs, noNullPoints }));
     if (error) return next(new HttpError(500, error));
@@ -134,7 +134,10 @@ async function getMetrics(req, res, next) {
 async function getMetricStream(req, res, next) {
     if (req.headers.accept !== 'text/event-stream') return next(new HttpError(400, 'This API call requires EventStream'));
 
-    const [error, metricStream] = await safe(metrics.getSystemStream());
+    const intervalSecs = typeof req.query.intervalSecs !== 'undefined' ? parseInt(req.query.intervalSecs, 10) : 5;
+    if (!intervalSecs || intervalSecs < 2) return next(new HttpError(400, 'intervalSecs query param must be >= 2'));
+
+    const [error, metricStream] = await safe(metrics.getSystemStream({ intervalSecs }));
     if (error) return next(BoxError.toHttpError(error));
 
     res.writeHead(200, {