diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 915dec197..7bc975ce5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ FEATURES
   * Delegators delegate votes to validator by default but can override (for their stake)
 * [tools] make get_tools installs tendermint's linter, and gometalinter
 * [tools] Switch gometalinter to the stable version
+* [server] Default config now creates a profiler at port 6060, and increase p2p send/recv rates
 
 FIXES
 * \#1259 - fix bug where certain tests that could have a nil pointer in defer
diff --git a/server/util.go b/server/util.go
index 4bf29cd7d..e0746f752 100644
--- a/server/util.go
+++ b/server/util.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"net"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ func PersistentPreRunEFn(context *Context) func(*cobra.Command, []string) error
 		if cmd.Name() == version.VersionCmd.Name() {
 			return nil
 		}
-		config, err := tcmd.ParseConfig()
+		config, err := interceptLoadConfig()
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -65,6 +66,26 @@ func PersistentPreRunEFn(context *Context) func(*cobra.Command, []string) error
 	}
 }
 
+// If a new config is created, change some of the default tendermint settings
+func interceptLoadConfig() (conf *cfg.Config, err error) {
+	tmpConf := cfg.DefaultConfig()
+	viper.Unmarshal(tmpConf)
+	rootDir := tmpConf.RootDir
+	configFilePath := filepath.Join(rootDir, "config/config.toml")
+	// Intercept only if the file doesn't already exist
+	if _, err := os.Stat(configFilePath); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		// the following parse config is needed to create directories
+		sdkDefaultConfig, _ := tcmd.ParseConfig()
+		sdkDefaultConfig.ProfListenAddress = "prof_laddr=localhost:6060"
+		sdkDefaultConfig.P2P.RecvRate = 5120000
+		sdkDefaultConfig.P2P.SendRate = 5120000
+		cfg.WriteConfigFile(configFilePath, sdkDefaultConfig)
+		// Fall through, just so that its parsed into memory.
+	}
+	conf, err = tcmd.ParseConfig()
+	return
+}
+
 // add server commands
 func AddCommands(
 	ctx *Context, cdc *wire.Codec,