diff --git a/test/external/external_uop_gc.py b/test/external/external_uop_gc.py
index a64e63a4af..cbf1983315 100644
--- a/test/external/external_uop_gc.py
+++ b/test/external/external_uop_gc.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import gc
 from tinygrad import Tensor, UOp, Device
-from tinygrad.shape.shapetracker import views_to_indexed_uops, folded_upcast
+from tinygrad.shape.shapetracker import views_to_indexed_uops, upcast
 from tinygrad.engine.realize import method_cache, get_kernel
 
 def uops_allocated(): return sum([isinstance(x, UOp) for x in gc.get_objects()])
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     # these caches will keep uops alive
     method_cache.clear()
     views_to_indexed_uops.cache_clear()
-    folded_upcast.cache_clear()
+    upcast.cache_clear()
 
     new_uops = uops_allocated()
     gc.collect()
diff --git a/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py b/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py
index ae78612372..f9dd75a66a 100644
--- a/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py
+++ b/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py
@@ -7,12 +7,13 @@ from tinygrad.helpers import merge_dicts, getenv
 from tinygrad.shape.view import View, strides_for_shape, unravel
 from tinygrad.dtype import dtypes
 from tinygrad.ops import UOp, Ops, graph_rewrite, Variable, sint, sint_to_uop, Context
-from tinygrad.codegen.symbolic import sym, split_uop, symbolic_flat, uop_given_valid, simplify_valid
+from tinygrad.codegen.symbolic import split_uop, symbolic_flat, uop_given_valid, simplify_valid
 
 def overflow(u: UOp): return u.vmax > dtypes.max(dtypes.int) or u.vmin < dtypes.min(dtypes.int)
 
 # If a node overflow, its srcs need to be checked to see if this overflow is the result of an ALU operation,
 # or that the node simply inherits the dtype from srcs. Upcast is either `Ops.CAST`+`replace` or just `replace`.
+@functools.cache
 def upcast(u: UOp) -> UOp:
   srcs = tuple(upcast(_src) for _src in u.src)
   if u.dtype.scalar() is dtypes.int:
@@ -24,29 +25,26 @@ def upcast(u: UOp) -> UOp:
     if any((overflow(src) for src in u.src)): return upcasted.cast(u.dtype)
   return u.replace(src=tuple(srcs))
 
-# pooling op may overflow before folding causing unnecessary upcast
-@functools.cache
-def folded_upcast(u: UOp) -> UOp:
-  with Context(TRACK_MATCH_STATS=0):
-    return upcast(graph_rewrite(u, sym, {}))
-
 @functools.cache
 def views_to_indexed_uops(views: tuple[View, ...], _idxs:Optional[tuple[UOp, ...]]=None) -> tuple[UOp, UOp]:
   idx, valid = views[-1].to_indexed_uops(_idxs)
   for view in reversed(views[0:-1]):
     view = view.minify()
     idx, valid = view.to_indexed_uops([sint_to_uop(i) for i in unravel(view.shape, idx)], valid)
-  return idx, valid
+  # symbolic
+  idx, valid = graph_rewrite(UOp.sink(idx, valid), symbolic_flat).src
+  # simplify
+  if (newvalid:=simplify_valid(valid)) is not None: valid = graph_rewrite(newvalid, symbolic_flat)
+  if (newidx:=uop_given_valid(valid, idx)) is not None: idx = graph_rewrite(newidx, symbolic_flat)
+  # upcast if needed
+  return upcast(idx), upcast(valid)
 
 @functools.cache
 def views_to_real_strides(views: tuple[View, ...], ignore_valid=False) -> tuple[Optional[sint], ...]:
   # NOTE: if a stride is not always valid, it will be None
   if len(views) == 1 and views[-1].mask is None: return views[-1].strides
   ret: list[Optional[sint]] = [None] * len(views[-1].shape)
-  idx, valid = (graph_rewrite(u, symbolic_flat) for u in views_to_indexed_uops(views))
-  # TODO: always apply these in to_indexed_uops?
-  if (newvalid:=simplify_valid(valid)) is not None: valid = newvalid
-  if (newidx:=uop_given_valid(valid, idx)) is not None: idx = graph_rewrite(newidx, symbolic_flat)
+  idx, valid = views_to_indexed_uops(views)
   for c in split_uop(idx, Ops.ADD):
     if c.op is Ops.RANGE: ret[c.arg] = 1
     if c.op is Ops.MUL and c.src[0].op is Ops.RANGE and c.src[1].op is Ops.CONST: ret[c.src[0].arg] = c.src[1].arg
@@ -92,8 +90,7 @@ class ShapeTracker:
 
   def to_uop(self) -> UOp: return UOp(Ops.VIEW, dtypes.void, (), self)
   def to_indexed_uops(self, _idxs:Optional[list[UOp]|tuple[UOp, ...]]=None) -> tuple[UOp, UOp]:
-    idx, valid = views_to_indexed_uops(self.views, tuple(_idxs) if _idxs is not None else None)
-    return folded_upcast(idx), folded_upcast(valid)
+    return views_to_indexed_uops(self.views, tuple(_idxs) if _idxs is not None else None)
 
   # upper bound on buffer size required to fit this shapetracker
   def real_size(self) -> int: