diff --git a/src/defrag.h b/src/defrag.h
index b5ba29c728..6d4b399275 100644
--- a/src/defrag.h
+++ b/src/defrag.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2007-2010 Open Information Security Foundation
+/* Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Open Information Security Foundation
  *
  * You can copy, redistribute or modify this Program under the terms of
  * the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ typedef struct DefragTracker_ {
     uint32_t timeout; /**< When this tracker will timeout. */
 
     /** use cnt, reference counter */
-    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned short, use_cnt);
+    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned int, use_cnt);
 
     TAILQ_HEAD(frag_tailq, Frag_) frags; /**< Head of list of fragments. */
 
diff --git a/src/flow-hash.c b/src/flow-hash.c
index 1a80a30f0d..9b20b9c807 100644
--- a/src/flow-hash.c
+++ b/src/flow-hash.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2007-2012 Open Information Security Foundation
+/* Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Open Information Security Foundation
  *
  * You can copy, redistribute or modify this Program under the terms of
  * the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 #define FLOW_DEFAULT_FLOW_PRUNE 5
 
 SC_ATOMIC_EXTERN(unsigned int, flow_prune_idx);
-SC_ATOMIC_EXTERN(unsigned char, flow_flags);
+SC_ATOMIC_EXTERN(unsigned int, flow_flags);
 
 static Flow *FlowGetUsedFlow(void);
 
diff --git a/src/flow-manager.c b/src/flow-manager.c
index 0f57430dd7..c1906f685e 100644
--- a/src/flow-manager.c
+++ b/src/flow-manager.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2007-2012 Open Information Security Foundation
+/* Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Open Information Security Foundation
  *
  * You can copy, redistribute or modify this Program under the terms of
  * the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
 /* Run mode selected at suricata.c */
 extern int run_mode;
 
-SC_ATOMIC_EXTERN(unsigned char, flow_flags);
+SC_ATOMIC_EXTERN(unsigned int, flow_flags);
 
 /* 1 seconds */
 #define FLOW_NORMAL_MODE_UPDATE_DELAY_SEC 1
diff --git a/src/flow.c b/src/flow.c
index 2b24d3298f..52c405115a 100644
--- a/src/flow.c
+++ b/src/flow.c
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
 SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned int, flow_prune_idx);
 
 /** atomic flags */
-SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned char, flow_flags);
+SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned int, flow_flags);
 
 void FlowRegisterTests(void);
 void FlowInitFlowProto();
diff --git a/src/flow.h b/src/flow.h
index b94882cd7a..98080626d0 100644
--- a/src/flow.h
+++ b/src/flow.h
@@ -247,6 +247,13 @@ typedef struct FlowAddress_ {
 #define addr_data16 address.address_un_data16
 #define addr_data8  address.address_un_data8
 
+#ifdef __tile__
+/* Atomic Ints performance better on Tile. */
+typedef unsigned int FlowRefCount;
+#else
+typedef unsigned short FlowRefCount;
+#endif
+
 /**
  *  \brief Flow data structure.
  *
@@ -290,7 +297,7 @@ typedef struct Flow_
      *  On receiving a packet the counter is incremented while the flow
      *  bucked is locked, which is also the case on timeout pruning.
      */
-    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned short, use_cnt);
+    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(FlowRefCount, use_cnt);
 
     /** flow queue id, used with autofp */
     SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(int, autofp_tmqh_flow_qid);
diff --git a/src/host.h b/src/host.h
index 9f8d0c5dd2..2616b4b35b 100644
--- a/src/host.h
+++ b/src/host.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2007-2012 Open Information Security Foundation
+/* Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Open Information Security Foundation
  *
  * You can copy, redistribute or modify this Program under the terms of
  * the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ typedef struct Host_ {
     Address a;
 
     /** use cnt, reference counter */
-    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned short, use_cnt);
+    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned int, use_cnt);
 
     /** pointers to iprep storage */
     void *iprep;
diff --git a/src/threadvars.h b/src/threadvars.h
index c589cc4c59..58581a0f79 100644
--- a/src/threadvars.h
+++ b/src/threadvars.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2007-2010 Open Information Security Foundation
+/* Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Open Information Security Foundation
  *
  * You can copy, redistribute or modify this Program under the terms of
  * the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ typedef struct ThreadVars_ {
     char *name;
     char *thread_group_name;
 
-    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned short, flags);
+    SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned int, flags);
 
     /** aof(action on failure) determines what should be done with the thread
         when it encounters certain conditions like failures */
diff --git a/src/util-atomic.h b/src/util-atomic.h
index 650bf7deda..cbcfc86873 100644
--- a/src/util-atomic.h
+++ b/src/util-atomic.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2007-2010 Open Information Security Foundation
+/* Copyright (C) 2007-2013 Open Information Security Foundation
  *
  * You can copy, redistribute or modify this Program under the terms of
  * the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
@@ -42,8 +42,11 @@
 #define __UTIL_ATOMIC_H__
 
 /* test if we have atomic operations support */
-#if !defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_8) || !defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_4) || \
-    !defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_2) || !defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_1)
+#if (!defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_8) || !defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_4) || \
+     !defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_2) || !defined(__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_1)) && \
+  !defined(__tile__)
+
+/* Do not have atomic operations support, so implement them with locks. */
 
 /**
  *  \brief wrapper to declare an atomic variable including a (spin) lock