diff --git a/dashboard/src/models/SystemModel.js b/dashboard/src/models/SystemModel.js
index 0f63e7eaf..736a5140b 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}&intervalSecs=3`);
+      return new EventSource(`${API_ORIGIN}/api/v1/system/metricstream?access_token=${accessToken}&intervalMsecs=500`);
     }
   };
 }
diff --git a/src/metrics.js b/src/metrics.js
index cac1f0b86..f4984ae08 100644
--- a/src/metrics.js
+++ b/src/metrics.js
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ async function getSystem(options) {
 async function getSystemStream(options) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof options, 'object');
 
-    const INTERVAL_SECS = options.intervalSecs || 5;
+    const INTERVAL_MSECS = options.intervalMsecs || 5000;
     let intervalId = null, oldCpuMetrics = null;
 
     const metricsStream = new Readable({
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ async function getSystemStream(options) {
         const memoryMetrics = await getMemoryMetrics();
         const cpuMetrics = await getCpuMetrics();
 
-        const cpuPercent = oldCpuMetrics ? (cpuMetrics.userMsecs + cpuMetrics.sysMsecs - oldCpuMetrics.userMsecs - oldCpuMetrics.sysMsecs) * 0.1 / INTERVAL_SECS : null;
+        const cpuPercent = oldCpuMetrics ? (cpuMetrics.userMsecs + cpuMetrics.sysMsecs - oldCpuMetrics.userMsecs - oldCpuMetrics.sysMsecs) * 0.1 / (INTERVAL_MSECS/1000) : null;
         oldCpuMetrics = cpuMetrics;
 
         const now = Date.now() / 1000;
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ async function getSystemStream(options) {
             memory: [ memoryMetrics.memoryUsed, now ],
             swap: [ memoryMetrics.swapUsed, now ],
         }));
-    }, INTERVAL_SECS*1000);
+    }, INTERVAL_MSECS);
 
     return metricsStream;
 }
diff --git a/src/routes/system.js b/src/routes/system.js
index 2769f7019..4e3b9e52a 100644
--- a/src/routes/system.js
+++ b/src/routes/system.js
@@ -134,10 +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 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 intervalMsecs = typeof req.query.intervalMsecs !== 'undefined' ? parseInt(req.query.intervalMsecs, 10) : 5000;
+    if (!intervalMsecs || intervalMsecs < 100) return next(new HttpError(400, 'intervalSecs query param must be atleast 100'));
 
-    const [error, metricStream] = await safe(metrics.getSystemStream({ intervalSecs }));
+    const [error, metricStream] = await safe(metrics.getSystemStream({ intervalMsecs }));
     if (error) return next(BoxError.toHttpError(error));
 
     res.writeHead(200, {