diff --git a/.buildkite/pipeline_perf.py b/.buildkite/pipeline_perf.py
index c77483f0927..ef3280b0672 100755
--- a/.buildkite/pipeline_perf.py
+++ b/.buildkite/pipeline_perf.py
@@ -16,20 +16,25 @@
 # the operating system sometimes uses it for book-keeping tasks. The memory node (-m parameter)
 # has to be the node associated with the NUMA node from which we picked CPUs.
 perf_test = {
-    "virtio-block": {
-        "label": "💿 Virtio Block Performance",
-        "test_path": "integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py::test_block_performance",
+    "virtio-block-sync": {
+        "label": "💿 Virtio Sync Block Performance",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py::test_block_performance -k 'not Async'",
+        "devtool_opts": "-c 1-10 -m 0",
+    },
+    "virtio-block-async": {
+        "label": "💿 Virtio Async Block Performance",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py::test_block_performance -k Async",
         "devtool_opts": "-c 1-10 -m 0",
     },
     "vhost-user-block": {
         "label": "💿 vhost-user Block Performance",
-        "test_path": "integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py::test_block_vhost_user_performance",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py::test_block_vhost_user_performance",
         "devtool_opts": "-c 1-10 -m 0",
         "ab_opts": "--noise-threshold 0.1",
     },
     "network": {
         "label": "📠 Network Latency and Throughput",
-        "test_path": "integration_tests/performance/test_network_ab.py",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_network_ab.py",
         "devtool_opts": "-c 1-10 -m 0",
         # Triggers if delta is > 0.01ms (10µs) or default relative threshold (5%)
         # only relevant for latency test, throughput test will always be magnitudes above this anyway
@@ -37,22 +42,22 @@
     },
     "snapshot-latency": {
         "label": "📸 Snapshot Latency",
-        "test_path": "integration_tests/performance/test_snapshot_ab.py::test_restore_latency integration_tests/performance/test_snapshot_ab.py::test_post_restore_latency",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_snapshot_ab.py::test_restore_latency integration_tests/performance/test_snapshot_ab.py::test_post_restore_latency",
         "devtool_opts": "-c 1-12 -m 0",
     },
     "population-latency": {
         "label": "📸 Memory Population Latency",
-        "test_path": "integration_tests/performance/test_snapshot_ab.py::test_population_latency",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_snapshot_ab.py::test_population_latency",
         "devtool_opts": "-c 1-12 -m 0",
     },
     "vsock-throughput": {
         "label": "🧦 Vsock Throughput",
-        "test_path": "integration_tests/performance/test_vsock_ab.py",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_vsock_ab.py",
         "devtool_opts": "-c 1-10 -m 0",
     },
     "memory-overhead": {
         "label": "💾 Memory Overhead and 👢 Boottime",
-        "test_path": "integration_tests/performance/test_memory_overhead.py integration_tests/performance/test_boottime.py::test_boottime",
+        "tests": "integration_tests/performance/test_memory_overhead.py integration_tests/performance/test_boottime.py::test_boottime",
         "devtool_opts": "-c 1-10 -m 0",
     },
 }
@@ -93,23 +98,21 @@
 tests = [perf_test[test] for test in pipeline.args.test or perf_test.keys()]
 for test in tests:
     devtool_opts = test.pop("devtool_opts")
-    test_path = test.pop("test_path")
+    test_selector = test.pop("tests")
     ab_opts = test.pop("ab_opts", "")
     devtool_opts += " --performance"
-    pytest_opts = ""
+    test_script_opts = ""
     if REVISION_A:
         devtool_opts += " --ab"
-        pytest_opts = (
-            f"{ab_opts} run build/{REVISION_A}/ build/{REVISION_B} --test {test_path}"
-        )
+        test_script_opts = f'{ab_opts} run build/{REVISION_A}/ build/{REVISION_B} --pytest-opts "{test_selector}"'
     else:
         # Passing `-m ''` below instructs pytest to collect tests regardless of
         # their markers (e.g. it will collect both tests marked as nonci, and
         # tests without any markers).
-        pytest_opts += f" -m '' {test_path}"
+        test_script_opts += f" -m '' {test_selector}"
 
     pipeline.build_group(
-        command=pipeline.devtool_test(devtool_opts, pytest_opts),
+        command=pipeline.devtool_test(devtool_opts, test_script_opts),
         # and the rest can be command arguments
         **test,
     )
diff --git a/tests/framework/microvm.py b/tests/framework/microvm.py
index c8d984a81c9..6c550e8c687 100644
--- a/tests/framework/microvm.py
+++ b/tests/framework/microvm.py
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ def kill(self):
 
             # filter ps results for the jailer's unique id
             _, stdout, stderr = utils.check_output(
-                f"ps aux | grep {self.jailer.jailer_id}"
+                f"ps ax -o cmd -ww | grep {self.jailer.jailer_id}"
             )
             # make sure firecracker was killed
             assert (
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py b/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py
index f518b75febf..f38872cdc94 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_block_ab.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 """Performance benchmark for block device emulation."""
 
 import concurrent
+import glob
 import os
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ def prepare_microvm_for_test(microvm):
     check_output("echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches")
 
 
-def run_fio(microvm, mode, block_size):
+def run_fio(microvm, mode, block_size, fio_engine="libaio"):
     """Run a fio test in the specified mode with block size bs."""
     cmd = (
         CmdBuilder("fio")
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ def run_fio(microvm, mode, block_size):
         .with_arg("--randrepeat=0")
         .with_arg(f"--bs={block_size}")
         .with_arg(f"--size={BLOCK_DEVICE_SIZE_MB}M")
-        .with_arg("--ioengine=libaio")
+        .with_arg(f"--ioengine={fio_engine}")
         .with_arg("--iodepth=32")
         # Set affinity of the entire fio process to a set of vCPUs equal in size to number of workers
         .with_arg(
@@ -68,8 +69,8 @@ def run_fio(microvm, mode, block_size):
         # Instruct fio to pin one worker per vcpu
         .with_arg("--cpus_allowed_policy=split")
         .with_arg(f"--write_bw_log={mode}")
+        .with_arg(f"--write_lat_log={mode}")
         .with_arg("--log_avg_msec=1000")
-        .with_arg("--output-format=json+")
         .build()
     )
 
@@ -102,44 +103,57 @@ def run_fio(microvm, mode, block_size):
         return logs_path, cpu_load_future.result()
 
 
-def process_fio_logs(vm, fio_mode, logs_dir, metrics):
-    """Parses the fio logs in `{logs_dir}/{fio_mode}_bw.*.log and emits their contents as CloudWatch metrics"""
-
+def process_fio_log_files(logs_glob):
+    """Parses all fio log files matching the given glob and yields tuples of same-timestamp read and write metrics"""
     data = [
-        Path(f"{logs_dir}/{fio_mode}_bw.{job_id + 1}.log")
-        .read_text("UTF-8")
-        .splitlines()
-        for job_id in range(vm.vcpus_count)
+        Path(pathname).read_text("UTF-8").splitlines()
+        for pathname in glob.glob(logs_glob)
     ]
 
+    assert data, "no log files found!"
+
     for tup in zip(*data):
-        bw_read = 0
-        bw_write = 0
+        read_values = []
+        write_values = []
 
         for line in tup:
+            # See https://fio.readthedocs.io/en/latest/fio_doc.html#log-file-formats
             _, value, direction, _ = line.split(",", maxsplit=3)
             value = int(value.strip())
 
-            # See https://fio.readthedocs.io/en/latest/fio_doc.html#log-file-formats
             match direction.strip():
                 case "0":
-                    bw_read += value
+                    read_values.append(value)
                 case "1":
-                    bw_write += value
+                    write_values.append(value)
                 case _:
                     assert False
 
+        yield read_values, write_values
+
+
+def emit_fio_metrics(logs_dir, metrics):
+    """Parses the fio logs in `{logs_dir}/*_[clat|bw].*.log and emits their contents as CloudWatch metrics"""
+    for bw_read, bw_write in process_fio_log_files(f"{logs_dir}/*_bw.*.log"):
         if bw_read:
-            metrics.put_metric("bw_read", bw_read, "Kilobytes/Second")
+            metrics.put_metric("bw_read", sum(bw_read), "Kilobytes/Second")
         if bw_write:
-            metrics.put_metric("bw_write", bw_write, "Kilobytes/Second")
+            metrics.put_metric("bw_write", sum(bw_write), "Kilobytes/Second")
+
+    for lat_read, lat_write in process_fio_log_files(f"{logs_dir}/*_clat.*.log"):
+        # latency values in fio logs are in nanoseconds, but cloudwatch only supports
+        # microseconds as the more granular unit, so need to divide by 1000.
+        for value in lat_read:
+            metrics.put_metric("clat_read", value / 1000, "Microseconds")
+        for value in lat_write:
+            metrics.put_metric("clat_write", value / 1000, "Microseconds")
 
 
-@pytest.mark.timeout(120)
 @pytest.mark.nonci
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("vcpus", [1, 2], ids=["1vcpu", "2vcpu"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("fio_mode", ["randread", "randwrite"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("fio_block_size", [4096], ids=["bs4096"])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("fio_engine", ["libaio", "psync"])
 def test_block_performance(
     microvm_factory,
     guest_kernel_acpi,
@@ -147,6 +161,7 @@ def test_block_performance(
     vcpus,
     fio_mode,
     fio_block_size,
+    fio_engine,
     io_engine,
     metrics,
 ):
@@ -170,15 +185,16 @@ def test_block_performance(
             "io_engine": io_engine,
             "fio_mode": fio_mode,
             "fio_block_size": str(fio_block_size),
+            "fio_engine": fio_engine,
             **vm.dimensions,
         }
     )
 
     vm.pin_threads(0)
 
-    logs_dir, cpu_util = run_fio(vm, fio_mode, fio_block_size)
+    logs_dir, cpu_util = run_fio(vm, fio_mode, fio_block_size, fio_engine)
 
-    process_fio_logs(vm, fio_mode, logs_dir, metrics)
+    emit_fio_metrics(logs_dir, metrics)
 
     for thread_name, values in cpu_util.items():
         for value in values:
@@ -218,6 +234,7 @@ def test_block_vhost_user_performance(
             "io_engine": "vhost-user",
             "fio_mode": fio_mode,
             "fio_block_size": str(fio_block_size),
+            "fio_engine": "libaio",
             **vm.dimensions,
         }
     )
@@ -227,7 +244,7 @@ def test_block_vhost_user_performance(
 
     logs_dir, cpu_util = run_fio(vm, fio_mode, fio_block_size)
 
-    process_fio_logs(vm, fio_mode, logs_dir, metrics)
+    emit_fio_metrics(logs_dir, metrics)
 
     for thread_name, values in cpu_util.items():
         for value in values:
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_memory_overhead.py b/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_memory_overhead.py
index a0c57a3c2bf..7935397cff4 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_memory_overhead.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/performance/test_memory_overhead.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def test_memory_overhead(
     """
 
     for _ in range(5):
-        microvm = microvm_factory.build(guest_kernel_acpi, rootfs)
+        microvm = microvm_factory.build(guest_kernel_acpi, rootfs, monitor_memory=False)
         microvm.spawn(emit_metrics=True)
         microvm.basic_config(vcpu_count=vcpu_count, mem_size_mib=mem_size_mib)
         microvm.add_net_iface()
diff --git a/tools/ab_test.py b/tools/ab_test.py
index fdcb433fe1b..3790ff4674c 100755
--- a/tools/ab_test.py
+++ b/tools/ab_test.py
@@ -46,11 +46,14 @@
     {"instance": "m6a.metal", "performance_test": "test_network_tcp_throughput"},
     # Network throughput on m7a.metal
     {"instance": "m7a.metal-48xl", "performance_test": "test_network_tcp_throughput"},
+    # block latencies if guest uses async request submission
+    {"fio_engine": "libaio", "metric": "clat_read"},
+    {"fio_engine": "libaio", "metric": "clat_write"},
 ]
 
 
 def is_ignored(dimensions) -> bool:
-    """Checks whether the given dimensions match a entry in the IGNORED dictionary above"""
+    """Checks whether the given dimensions match an entry in the IGNORED dictionary above"""
     for high_variance in IGNORED:
         matching = {key: dimensions[key] for key in high_variance if key in dimensions}
 
@@ -114,6 +117,8 @@ def load_data_series(report_path: Path, tag=None, *, reemit: bool = False):
     # Dictionary mapping EMF dimensions to A/B-testable metrics/properties
     processed_emf = {}
 
+    distinct_values_per_dimenson = defaultdict(set)
+
     report = json.loads(report_path.read_text("UTF-8"))
     for test in report["tests"]:
         for line in test["teardown"]["stdout"].splitlines():
@@ -133,6 +138,9 @@ def load_data_series(report_path: Path, tag=None, *, reemit: bool = False):
                 if not dimensions:
                     continue
 
+                for dimension, value in dimensions.items():
+                    distinct_values_per_dimenson[dimension].add(value)
+
                 dimension_set = frozenset(dimensions.items())
 
                 if dimension_set not in processed_emf:
@@ -149,22 +157,40 @@ def load_data_series(report_path: Path, tag=None, *, reemit: bool = False):
 
                         values.extend(result[metric][0])
 
-    return processed_emf
+    irrelevant_dimensions = set()
+
+    for dimension, distinct_values in distinct_values_per_dimenson.items():
+        if len(distinct_values) == 1:
+            irrelevant_dimensions.add(dimension)
+
+    post_processed_emf = {}
+
+    for dimension_set, metrics in processed_emf.items():
+        processed_key = frozenset(
+            (dim, value)
+            for (dim, value) in dimension_set
+            if dim not in irrelevant_dimensions
+        )
+
+        post_processed_emf[processed_key] = metrics
+
+    return post_processed_emf
 
 
-def collect_data(binary_dir: Path, tests: list[str]):
+def collect_data(binary_dir: Path, pytest_opts: str):
     """Executes the specified test using the provided firecracker binaries"""
     binary_dir = binary_dir.resolve()
 
     print(f"Collecting samples with {binary_dir}")
     subprocess.run(
-        ["./tools/test.sh", f"--binary-dir={binary_dir}", *tests, "-m", ""],
+        f"./tools/test.sh --binary-dir={binary_dir} {pytest_opts} -m ''",
         env=os.environ
         | {
             "AWS_EMF_ENVIRONMENT": "local",
             "AWS_EMF_NAMESPACE": "local",
         },
         check=True,
+        shell=True,
     )
     return load_data_series(
         Path("test_results/test-report.json"), binary_dir, reemit=True
@@ -258,7 +284,7 @@ def analyze_data(
 
     failures = []
     for (dimension_set, metric), (result, unit) in results.items():
-        if is_ignored(dict(dimension_set)):
+        if is_ignored(dict(dimension_set) | {"metric": metric}):
             continue
 
         print(f"Doing A/B-test for dimensions {dimension_set} and property {metric}")
@@ -308,7 +334,7 @@ def analyze_data(
 def ab_performance_test(
     a_revision: Path,
     b_revision: Path,
-    tests,
+    pytest_opts,
     p_thresh,
     strength_abs_thresh,
     noise_threshold,
@@ -316,7 +342,7 @@ def ab_performance_test(
     """Does an A/B-test of the specified test with the given firecracker/jailer binaries"""
 
     return binary_ab_test(
-        lambda bin_dir, _: collect_data(bin_dir, tests),
+        lambda bin_dir, _: collect_data(bin_dir, pytest_opts),
         lambda ah, be: analyze_data(
             ah,
             be,
@@ -349,7 +375,11 @@ def ab_performance_test(
         help="Directory containing firecracker and jailer binaries whose performance we want to compare against the results from a_revision",
         type=Path,
     )
-    run_parser.add_argument("--test", help="The test to run", nargs="+", required=True)
+    run_parser.add_argument(
+        "--pytest-opts",
+        help="Parameters to pass through to pytest, for example for test selection",
+        required=True,
+    )
     analyze_parser = subparsers.add_parser(
         "analyze",
         help="Analyze the results of two manually ran tests based on their test-report.json files",
@@ -388,7 +418,7 @@ def ab_performance_test(
         ab_performance_test(
             args.a_revision,
             args.b_revision,
-            args.test,
+            args.pytest_opts,
             args.significance,
             args.absolute_strength,
             args.noise_threshold,