diff --git a/include/haproxy/global-t.h b/include/haproxy/global-t.h
index 2e74859ae..d7a1ff5ee 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/global-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/global-t.h
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ struct global {
 					 * than 255 arguments
 					 */
 	/* 2-bytes hole */
+	int est_fd_usage;               /* rough estimate of reserved FDs (listeners, pollers etc) */
 	int cfg_curr_line;              /* line number currently being parsed */
 	const char *cfg_curr_file;      /* config file currently being parsed or NULL */
 	char *cfg_curr_section;         /* config section name currently being parsed or NULL */
diff --git a/src/haproxy.c b/src/haproxy.c
index 52e60d39c..cc26c6447 100644
--- a/src/haproxy.c
+++ b/src/haproxy.c
@@ -2304,6 +2304,9 @@ static void step_init_2(int argc, char** argv)
 				global.maxsock += p->peers_fe->maxconn;
 	}
 
+	/* count listeners, checks, plus 1 poller and one wake-up pipe (2fd) per thread */
+	global.est_fd_usage = global.maxsock + 3 * global.nbthread;
+
 	/* Compute the global.maxconn and possibly global.maxsslconn values */
 	set_global_maxconn();
 	global.maxsock = compute_ideal_maxsock(global.maxconn);
diff --git a/src/limits.c b/src/limits.c
index f4dacfc56..d2aa3cffc 100644
--- a/src/limits.c
+++ b/src/limits.c
@@ -105,9 +105,9 @@ int compute_ideal_maxpipes()
 
 /* considers global.maxsocks, global.maxpipes, async engines, SSL frontends and
  * rlimits and computes an ideal maxconn. It's meant to be called only when
- * maxsock contains the sum of listening FDs, before it is updated based on
- * maxconn and pipes. If there are not enough FDs left, DEFAULT_MAXCONN (by
- * default 100) is returned as it is expected that it will even run on tight
+ * global.est_fd_usage contains the sum of listening FDs, before it is updated
+ * based on maxconn and pipes. If there are not enough FDs left, DEFAULT_MAXCONN
+ * (by default 100) is returned as it is expected that it will even run on tight
  * environments, and will maintain compatibility with previous packages that
  * used to rely on this value as the default one. The system will emit a
  * warning indicating how many FDs are missing anyway if needed.
@@ -162,13 +162,7 @@ static int compute_ideal_maxconn()
 	}
 
 	/* subtract listeners and checks */
-	remain -= global.maxsock;
-
-	/* one epoll_fd/kqueue_fd per thread */
-	remain -= global.nbthread;
-
-	/* one wake-up pipe (2 fd) per thread */
-	remain -= 2 * global.nbthread;
+	remain -= global.est_fd_usage;
 
 	/* Fixed pipes values : we only subtract them if they're not larger
 	 * than the remaining FDs because pipes are optional.