diff --git a/av1/encoder/rdopt.c b/av1/encoder/rdopt.c
index a44568e..885d3a7 100644
--- a/av1/encoder/rdopt.c
+++ b/av1/encoder/rdopt.c
@@ -12906,6 +12906,13 @@
 #if CONFIG_COLLECT_COMPONENT_TIMING
   start_timing(cpi, handle_intra_mode_time);
 #endif
+
+  // Gate intra mode evaluation if best of inter is skip except when source
+  // variance is extremely low
+  if ((search_state.best_mbmode.skip) && (sf->skip_intra_in_interframe >= 2) &&
+      (x->source_variance > sf->src_var_thresh_intra_skip))
+    search_state.skip_intra_modes = 1;
+
   const int intra_ref_frame_cost = ref_costs_single[INTRA_FRAME];
   for (int j = 0; j < intra_mode_num; ++j) {
     if (sf->skip_intra_in_interframe && search_state.skip_intra_modes) break;
diff --git a/av1/encoder/speed_features.c b/av1/encoder/speed_features.c
index 3ad1139..7eddc50 100644
--- a/av1/encoder/speed_features.c
+++ b/av1/encoder/speed_features.c
@@ -396,6 +396,9 @@
     sf->perform_coeff_opt = is_boosted_arf2_bwd_type ? 2 : 4;
     sf->adaptive_txb_search_level = boosted ? 2 : 3;
     sf->mv.subpel_search_method = SUBPEL_TREE_PRUNED_MORE;
+    // TODO(any): Experiment with this speed feature set to 2 for higher quality
+    // presets as well
+    sf->skip_intra_in_interframe = 2;
   }
 
   if (speed >= 5) {
@@ -791,6 +794,7 @@
   sf->skip_wm_in_uniform_mv_field = 0;
   sf->adaptive_interp_filter_search = 0;
   sf->interp_filter_search_mask = ALLOW_ALL_INTERP_FILT_MASK;
+  sf->src_var_thresh_intra_skip = 1;
 
   for (i = 0; i < TX_SIZES; i++) {
     sf->intra_y_mode_mask[i] = INTRA_ALL;
diff --git a/av1/encoder/speed_features.h b/av1/encoder/speed_features.h
index 96a1384..008bc61 100644
--- a/av1/encoder/speed_features.h
+++ b/av1/encoder/speed_features.h
@@ -537,6 +537,10 @@
   // flag to allow skipping intra mode for inter frame prediction
   int skip_intra_in_interframe;
 
+  // variance threshold for intra mode gating when inter turned out to be skip
+  // in inter frame prediction
+  unsigned int src_var_thresh_intra_skip;
+
   // Use hash table to store intra(keyframe only) txb transform search results
   // to avoid repeated search on the same residue signal.
   int use_intra_txb_hash;