diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchmarking.yml b/.github/workflows/benchmarking.yml
index 899cae2b8658..d038f64f15b0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/benchmarking.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchmarking.yml
@@ -56,15 +56,26 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   bench:
     if: ${{ github.event.inputs.run_only_pgvector_tests == 'false' || github.event.inputs.run_only_pgvector_tests == null }}
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - DEFAULT_PG_VERSION: 14
+            PLATFORM: "neon-staging"
+            region_id: ${{ github.event.inputs.region_id || 'aws-us-east-2' }}
+            provisioner: 'k8s-pod' 
+          - DEFAULT_PG_VERSION: 16
+            PLATFORM: "azure-staging"
+            region_id: 'azure-eastus2'
+            provisioner: 'k8s-neonvm'
     env:
       TEST_PG_BENCH_DURATIONS_MATRIX: "300"
       TEST_PG_BENCH_SCALES_MATRIX: "10,100"
       POSTGRES_DISTRIB_DIR: /tmp/neon/pg_install
-      DEFAULT_PG_VERSION: 14
+      DEFAULT_PG_VERSION: ${{ matrix.DEFAULT_PG_VERSION }}
       TEST_OUTPUT: /tmp/test_output
       BUILD_TYPE: remote
       SAVE_PERF_REPORT: ${{ github.event.inputs.save_perf_report || ( github.ref_name == 'main' ) }}
-      PLATFORM: "neon-staging"
+      PLATFORM: ${{ matrix.PLATFORM }}
 
     runs-on: [ self-hosted, us-east-2, x64 ]
     container:
@@ -85,9 +96,10 @@ jobs:
       id: create-neon-project
       uses: ./.github/actions/neon-project-create
       with:
-        region_id: ${{ github.event.inputs.region_id || 'aws-us-east-2' }}
+        region_id: ${{ matrix.region_id }}
         postgres_version: ${{ env.DEFAULT_PG_VERSION }}
         api_key: ${{ secrets.NEON_STAGING_API_KEY }}
+        provisioner: ${{ matrix.provisioner }}
 
     - name: Run benchmark
       uses: ./.github/actions/run-python-test-set
@@ -96,13 +108,14 @@ jobs:
         test_selection: performance
         run_in_parallel: false
         save_perf_report: ${{ env.SAVE_PERF_REPORT }}
+        pg_version: ${{ env.DEFAULT_PG_VERSION }}
         # Set --sparse-ordering option of pytest-order plugin
         # to ensure tests are running in order of appears in the file.
         # It's important for test_perf_pgbench.py::test_pgbench_remote_* tests
         extra_params:
           -m remote_cluster
           --sparse-ordering
-          --timeout 5400
+          --timeout 14400
           --ignore test_runner/performance/test_perf_olap.py
           --ignore test_runner/performance/test_perf_pgvector_queries.py
           --ignore test_runner/performance/test_logical_replication.py
diff --git a/test_runner/performance/test_hot_page.py b/test_runner/performance/test_hot_page.py
index d9785dd87e04..5e97c7cddf13 100644
--- a/test_runner/performance/test_hot_page.py
+++ b/test_runner/performance/test_hot_page.py
@@ -16,20 +16,34 @@
 )
 def test_hot_page(env: PgCompare):
     # Update the same page many times, then measure read performance
-    num_writes = 1000000
 
     with closing(env.pg.connect()) as conn:
         with conn.cursor() as cur:
             cur.execute("drop table if exists t, f;")
+            num_writes = 1000000
 
-            # Write many updates to the same row
+            # Use a PL/pgSQL block to perform many updates to the same row
+            # without depending on the latency between database client and postgres
+            # server
+            # - however a single staement should not run into a timeout so we increase it
+            cur.execute("SET statement_timeout = '4h';")
             with env.record_duration("write"):
-                cur.execute("create table t (i integer);")
-                cur.execute("insert into t values (0);")
-                for i in range(num_writes):
-                    cur.execute(f"update t set i = {i};")
+                cur.execute(
+                    f"""
+                DO $$
+                BEGIN
+                    create table t (i integer);
+                    insert into t values (0);
 
-            # Write 3-4 MB to evict t from compute cache
+                    FOR j IN 1..{num_writes} LOOP
+                        update t set i = j;
+                    END LOOP;
+                END $$;
+                """
+                )
+
+            # Write ca 350 MB to evict t from compute shared buffers (128 MB)
+            # however it will still be in LFC, so I do not really understand the point of this test
             cur.execute("create table f (i integer);")
             cur.execute("insert into f values (generate_series(1,100000));")
 
diff --git a/test_runner/performance/test_hot_table.py b/test_runner/performance/test_hot_table.py
index 5fcffc8afb7a..9a78c92ec0e1 100644
--- a/test_runner/performance/test_hot_table.py
+++ b/test_runner/performance/test_hot_table.py
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@
 )
 def test_hot_table(env: PgCompare):
     # Update a small table many times, then measure read performance
-    num_rows = 100000  # Slightly larger than shared buffers size  TODO validate
-    num_writes = 1000000
+    num_rows = 100000  # initial table size only about 4 MB
+    num_writes = 10000000  # write approximately 349 MB blocks > 128 MB shared_buffers
     num_reads = 10
 
     with closing(env.pg.connect()) as conn:
@@ -28,8 +28,21 @@ def test_hot_table(env: PgCompare):
             with env.record_duration("write"):
                 cur.execute("create table t (i integer primary key);")
                 cur.execute(f"insert into t values (generate_series(1,{num_rows}));")
-                for i in range(num_writes):
-                    cur.execute(f"update t set i = {i + num_rows} WHERE i = {i};")
+                # PL/pgSQL block to perform updates (and avoid latency between client and server)
+                # - however a single staement should not run into a timeout so we increase it
+                cur.execute("SET statement_timeout = '4h';")
+                cur.execute(
+                    f"""
+                DO $$
+                DECLARE
+                    r integer := {num_rows};
+                BEGIN
+                    FOR j IN 1..{num_writes} LOOP
+                        UPDATE t SET i = j + r WHERE i = j;
+                    END LOOP;
+                END $$;
+                """
+                )
 
             # Read the table
             with env.record_duration("read"):