diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/atlas/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/atlas/default.nix
index 12ee83ca88d..74d20621089 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/atlas/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/atlas/default.nix
@@ -1,27 +1,46 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, gfortran }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, gfortran, tolerateCpuTimingInaccuracy ? true }:
+
+let
+  optionalString = stdenv.lib.optionalString;
+in
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "atlas-3.9.67";
-  
+
   src = fetchurl {
     url = mirror://sf/math-atlas/atlas3.9.67.tar.bz2;
     sha256 = "06xxlv440z8a3qmfrh17p28girv71c6awvpw5vhpspr0pcsgk1pa";
   };
 
-  # configure outside of the source directory
+  # Configure outside of the source directory.
   preConfigure = '' mkdir build; cd build; configureScript=../configure; '';
 
-  # the manual says you should pass -fPIC as configure arg .. It works
-  configureFlags = "-Fa alg -fPIC" + 
-    (if stdenv.isi686 then " -b 32" else "");
+  # * The manual says you should pass -fPIC as configure arg. Not sure why, but
+  #   it works.
+  #
+  # * Atlas aborts the build if it detects that some kind of CPU frequency
+  #   scaling is active on the build machine because that feature offsets the
+  #   performance timings. We ignore that check, however, because with binaries
+  #   being pre-built on Hydra those timings aren't accurate for the local
+  #   machine in the first place.
+  configureFlags = "-Fa alg -fPIC"
+    + optionalString stdenv.isi686 " -b 32"
+    + optionalString tolerateCpuTimingInaccuracy " -Si cputhrchk 0";
 
   buildInputs = [ gfortran ];
 
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Atlas library";
+    homepage = "http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/";
+    description = "Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software (ATLAS)";
     license = "GPL";
-    homepage = http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/;
+
+    longDescription = ''
+      The ATLAS (Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software) project is an ongoing
+      research effort focusing on applying empirical techniques in order to provide
+      portable performance. At present, it provides C and Fortran77 interfaces to a
+      portably efficient BLAS implementation, as well as a few routines from LAPACK.
+    '';
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 57f73fb43fc..635b918d3a9 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -8296,7 +8296,13 @@ let
 
   ### SCIENCE/MATH
 
-  atlas = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/atlas { };
+  atlas = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/atlas {
+    # The build process measures CPU capabilities and optimizes the
+    # library to perform best on that particular machine. That is a
+    # great feature, but it's of limited use with pre-built binaries
+    # coming from a central build farm.
+    tolerateCpuTimingInaccuracy = true;
+  };
 
   blas = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/blas { };