diff --git a/src/driver/safe/core.rs b/src/driver/safe/core.rs
index 2f938ec0..2c98e3f0 100644
--- a/src/driver/safe/core.rs
+++ b/src/driver/safe/core.rs
@@ -1405,6 +1405,11 @@ impl<T> Drop for PinnedHostSlice<T> {
 impl CudaContext {
     /// Allocates page locked host memory with [sys::CU_MEMHOSTALLOC_WRITECOMBINED] flags.
     ///
+    /// Write-combined memory is intended for memory primarily written by the
+    /// host before a device transfer; it has poor CPU read performance. Use
+    /// [CudaContext::alloc_pinned_with_flags()] with `0` for default page
+    /// locked host memory if CPU reads matter.
+    ///
     /// See [cuda docs](https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-driver-api/group__CUDA__MEM.html#group__CUDA__MEM_1g572ca4011bfcb25034888a14d4e035b9)
     ///
     /// # Safety
@@ -1412,15 +1417,29 @@ impl CudaContext {
     pub unsafe fn alloc_pinned<T: DeviceRepr>(
         self: &Arc<Self>,
         len: usize,
+    ) -> Result<PinnedHostSlice<T>, DriverError> {
+        self.alloc_pinned_with_flags(len, sys::CU_MEMHOSTALLOC_WRITECOMBINED)
+    }
+
+    /// Allocates page locked host memory with the specified `flags`.
+    ///
+    /// See [cuda docs](https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-driver-api/group__CUDA__MEM.html#group__CUDA__MEM_1g572ca4011bfcb25034888a14d4e035b9)
+    ///
+    /// # Safety
+    /// 1. This is unsafe because the memory is unset after this call.
+    pub unsafe fn alloc_pinned_with_flags<T: DeviceRepr>(
+        self: &Arc<Self>,
+        len: usize,
+        flags: u32,
     ) -> Result<PinnedHostSlice<T>, DriverError> {
         self.bind_to_thread()?;
-        let ptr = result::malloc_host(
-            len * std::mem::size_of::<T>(),
-            sys::CU_MEMHOSTALLOC_WRITECOMBINED,
-        )?;
+        let num_bytes = len
+            .checked_mul(std::mem::size_of::<T>())
+            .expect("Pinned host allocation size overflow");
+        assert!(num_bytes < isize::MAX as usize);
+        let ptr = result::malloc_host(num_bytes, flags)?;
         let ptr = ptr as *mut T;
         assert!(!ptr.is_null());
-        assert!(len * std::mem::size_of::<T>() < isize::MAX as usize);
         assert!(ptr.is_aligned());
         let event = self.new_event(Some(sys::CUevent_flags::CU_EVENT_BLOCKING_SYNC))?;
         Ok(PinnedHostSlice { ptr, len, event })
@@ -2519,6 +2538,7 @@ impl CudaStream {
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
+    use std::hint::black_box;
     use std::time::Instant;
 
     use super::*;
@@ -2687,6 +2707,64 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(&host, &truth);
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_htod_copy_pinned_with_default_flags() {
+        let truth = [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0];
+        let ctx = CudaContext::new(0).unwrap();
+        let stream = ctx.default_stream();
+        let mut pinned = unsafe { ctx.alloc_pinned_with_flags::<f32>(10, 0) }.unwrap();
+        pinned.as_mut_slice().unwrap().clone_from_slice(&truth);
+        assert_eq!(pinned.as_slice().unwrap(), &truth);
+        let dst = stream.clone_htod(&pinned).unwrap();
+        let host = stream.clone_dtoh(&dst).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(&host, &truth);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[should_panic(expected = "Pinned host allocation size overflow")]
+    fn test_alloc_pinned_panics_on_size_overflow() {
+        let ctx = CudaContext::new(0).unwrap();
+        let _ = unsafe { ctx.alloc_pinned_with_flags::<u32>(usize::MAX, 0) };
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_default_pinned_host_reads_are_faster_than_write_combined() {
+        fn timed_host_reads(values: &[u32], n_samples: usize) -> (std::time::Duration, u64) {
+            let start = Instant::now();
+            let mut sum = 0_u64;
+            for _ in 0..n_samples {
+                for value in black_box(values) {
+                    sum = sum.wrapping_add(u64::from(*value));
+                }
+            }
+            (start.elapsed(), black_box(sum))
+        }
+
+        let ctx = CudaContext::new(0).unwrap();
+        let n = 1 << 20;
+        let n_samples = 5;
+        let mut write_combined =
+            unsafe { ctx.alloc_pinned_with_flags::<u32>(n, sys::CU_MEMHOSTALLOC_WRITECOMBINED) }
+                .unwrap();
+        let mut default = unsafe { ctx.alloc_pinned_with_flags::<u32>(n, 0) }.unwrap();
+        write_combined.as_mut_slice().unwrap().fill(1);
+        default.as_mut_slice().unwrap().fill(1);
+
+        let (write_combined_elapsed, write_combined_sum) =
+            timed_host_reads(write_combined.as_slice().unwrap(), n_samples);
+        let (default_elapsed, default_sum) =
+            timed_host_reads(default.as_slice().unwrap(), n_samples);
+        assert_eq!(write_combined_sum, default_sum);
+        std::println!(
+            "default pinned host reads: {default_elapsed:?}; write-combined host reads: {write_combined_elapsed:?}"
+        );
+        // The performance gap should be large, but leave margin for device and host variance.
+        assert!(
+            default_elapsed.as_secs_f32() * 2.0 < write_combined_elapsed.as_secs_f32(),
+            "{default_elapsed:?} vs {write_combined_elapsed:?}"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_pinned_copy_is_faster() {
         let ctx = CudaContext::new(0).unwrap();