diff --git a/tools/release/build_release.sh b/tools/release/build_release.sh
index 4cca754a08..5dca1626ca 100755
--- a/tools/release/build_release.sh
+++ b/tools/release/build_release.sh
@@ -46,10 +46,21 @@ echo "[-] committing version $VERSION T=$SECONDS"
 git add -f .
 git commit -a -m "openpilot v$VERSION release"
 
+# use the full CPU available for speeding up the build.
+# openpilot resets the CPU frequencies when test_onroad.py runs below.
+for policy in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy*; do
+  [ -d "$policy" ] || continue
+  hardware_max="$(cat "$policy/cpuinfo_max_freq")"
+  echo "$hardware_max" | sudo tee "$policy/scaling_max_freq" >/dev/null
+done
+
 # Build and test before launch_chffrplus.sh creates the on-device package
 # symlinks. SConstruct uses the same package roots for build subprocesses.
 export PYTHONPATH="$BUILD_DIR:$BUILD_DIR/msgq_repo:$BUILD_DIR/opendbc_repo:$BUILD_DIR/rednose_repo:$BUILD_DIR/teleoprtc_repo:$BUILD_DIR/tinygrad_repo"
 scons
+if [ -n "$INCLUDE_BIG_MODEL" ]; then
+  test -f openpilot/selfdrive/modeld/models/big_driving_tinygrad.pkl.chunkmanifest
+fi
 
 if [ -z "$PANDA_DEBUG_BUILD" ]; then
   # release panda fw
diff --git a/tools/release/release_files.py b/tools/release/release_files.py
index 223e3f2c77..1558f04a26 100755
--- a/tools/release/release_files.py
+++ b/tools/release/release_files.py
@@ -8,13 +8,11 @@ ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(HERE, "../.."))
 
 blacklist = [
   ".git/",
+  ".venv/",
   ".github/workflows/",
 
   "matlab.*.md",
 
-  # skip big model for now
-  "openpilot/selfdrive/modeld/models/big_driving_supercombo.onnx",
-
   # no LFS or submodules in release
   ".lfsconfig",
   ".gitattributes",
@@ -32,6 +30,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
       continue
 
     rf = str(f.relative_to(ROOT))
+    if not os.getenv("INCLUDE_BIG_MODEL") and rf.startswith("openpilot/selfdrive/modeld/models/big_driving_supercombo.onnx"):
+      continue
     blacklisted = any(re.search(p, rf) for p in blacklist)
     whitelisted = any(re.search(p, rf) for p in whitelist)
     if blacklisted and not whitelisted: