diff --git c/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_shrinker.c i/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_shrinker.c
--- c/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_shrinker.c
+++ i/drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_shrinker.c
@@ -174,10 +174,17 @@ static unsigned long
 xe_shrinker_count(struct shrinker *shrink, struct shrink_control *sc)
 {
 	struct xe_shrinker *shrinker = to_xe_shrinker(shrink);
-	unsigned long num_pages;
+	unsigned long num_pages = 0;
 	bool can_backup = !!(sc->gfp_mask & __GFP_FS);
 
-	num_pages = ttm_backup_bytes_avail() >> PAGE_SHIFT;
+	/*
+	 * Skip accounting backup-able pages when this is an opportunistic
+	 * high-order pass: TTM backup work shrinks at native page granularity
+	 * and is unlikely to produce the contiguous block the caller wants,
+	 * so don't advertise it as reclaimable for this hint.
+	 */
+	if (!sc->opportunistic_compaction)
+		num_pages = ttm_backup_bytes_avail() >> PAGE_SHIFT;
 	read_lock(&shrinker->lock);
 
 	if (can_backup)
@@ -249,7 +256,14 @@ static unsigned long xe_shrinker_scan(struct shrinker *shrink, struct shrink_con
 				 nr_to_scan, &nr_scanned, &freed);
 
 	sc->nr_scanned = nr_scanned;
-	if (nr_scanned >= nr_to_scan || !can_backup)
+	/*
+	 * Stop after the purge pass for opportunistic high-order reclaim:
+	 * the subsequent backup/writeback pass works at native page order
+	 * and is unlikely to free a contiguous high-order block, so doing
+	 * it here would just churn working sets for no compaction benefit.
+	 */
+	if (nr_scanned >= nr_to_scan || !can_backup ||
+	    sc->opportunistic_compaction)
 		goto out;
 
 	/* If we didn't wake before, try to do it now if needed. */