diff --git a/pkg/server/testserver.go b/pkg/server/testserver.go
index fd2eb27b04f7..acb7845a9144 100644
--- a/pkg/server/testserver.go
+++ b/pkg/server/testserver.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"fmt"
+	"math/rand"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/cookiejar"
@@ -132,12 +133,10 @@ func makeTestConfigFromParams(params base.TestServerArgs) Config {
 	st := params.Settings
 	if params.Settings == nil {
 		st = cluster.MakeClusterSettings()
-		// TODO(sumeer): re-introduce this randomization.
-		// enabledSeparated := rand.Intn(2) == 0
-		// log.Infof(context.Background(),
-		//	"test Config is randomly setting enabledSeparated: %t",
-		//	enabledSeparated)
-		// storage.SeparatedIntentsEnabled.Override(&st.SV, enabledSeparated)
+		enabledSeparated := rand.Intn(2) == 0
+		log.Infof(context.Background(),
+			"test Config is randomly setting enabledSeparated: %t", enabledSeparated)
+		storage.SeparatedIntentsEnabled.Override(&st.SV, enabledSeparated)
 	}
 	st.ExternalIODir = params.ExternalIODir
 	cfg := makeTestConfig(st)
diff --git a/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/aggregate b/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/aggregate
index 63c1d4cfe00a..a20d52a68ff9 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/aggregate
+++ b/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/aggregate
@@ -892,9 +892,15 @@ CREATE TABLE mnop (
   p BIGINT
 )
 
+# TODO(sumeer): increase this series back to 2e4 once we have more performance
+# improvements to ranged intent resolution. This test is somewhat artificial
+# in that it accumulates a large number of deletion markers for intents for
+# each key, in the LSM memtable, without them being flushed to ssts. This
+# slows down ranged intent resolution. With 1e4 keys, the txn tracks each
+# intent individually, and intent resolution is fast.
 statement ok
 INSERT INTO mnop (m, n) SELECT i, (1e9 + i/2e4)::float FROM
-  generate_series(1, 2e4) AS i(i)
+  generate_series(1, 5e3) AS i(i)
 
 statement ok
 UPDATE mnop SET o = n::decimal, p = (n * 10)::bigint
@@ -902,22 +908,22 @@ UPDATE mnop SET o = n::decimal, p = (n * 10)::bigint
 query RRR
 SELECT round(variance(n), 2), round(variance(n), 2), round(variance(p)) FROM mnop
 ----
-0.08 0.08 8
+0.01  0.01  1
 
 query RRR
 SELECT round(var_pop(n), 2), round(var_pop(n), 2), round(var_pop(p)) FROM mnop
 ----
-0.08 0.08 8
+0.01  0.01  1
 
 query RRR
 SELECT round(stddev_samp(n), 2), round(stddev(n), 2), round(stddev_samp(p)) FROM mnop
 ----
-0.29 0.29 3
+0.07  0.07  1
 
 query RRR
 SELECT round(stddev_pop(n), 2), round(stddev_pop(n), 2), round(stddev_pop(p)) FROM mnop
 ----
-0.29 0.29 3
+0.07  0.07  1
 
 query RRR
 SELECT avg(1::int)::float, avg(2::float)::float, avg(3::decimal)::float
diff --git a/pkg/storage/intent_reader_writer.go b/pkg/storage/intent_reader_writer.go
index 92d34f46f7ab..9bd6e8cb72be 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/intent_reader_writer.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/intent_reader_writer.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ var SeparatedIntentsEnabled = settings.RegisterBoolSetting(
 	"storage.transaction.separated_intents.enabled",
 	"if enabled, intents will be written to a separate lock table, instead of being "+
 		"interleaved with MVCC values",
-	false,
+	true,
 )
 
 // This file defines wrappers for Reader and Writer, and functions to do the