diff --git a/src/test/chashtable.cpp b/src/test/chashtable.cpp
index 9675ee312a..238c5cda20 100644
--- a/src/test/chashtable.cpp
+++ b/src/test/chashtable.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ Revision History:
 #include "util/hash.h"
 #include "util/util.h"
 #include <iostream>
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <vector>
 
 typedef chashtable<int, int_hash, default_eq<int> > int_table;
 typedef cmap<int, int, int_hash, default_eq<int> > int_map;
@@ -172,6 +174,87 @@ static void tst6() {
     });
 }
 
+static unsigned combine_hash_old(unsigned h1, unsigned h2) {
+    // Pre-change combine_hash implementation kept for A/B quality checks.
+    h2 -= h1; h2 ^= (h1 << 8);
+    h1 -= h2; h2 ^= (h1 << 16);
+    h2 -= h1; h2 ^= (h1 << 10);
+    return h2;
+}
+
+constexpr unsigned hash_compare_num_samples = 1u << 16;
+constexpr unsigned hash_compare_seed = 0x12345678u;
+constexpr unsigned hash_compare_alignment_shift = 12;
+
+struct hash_projection_stats_t {
+    unsigned m_occupied = 0;
+    uint64_t m_uniform_error = 0;
+};
+
+template<typename CombineHash>
+static hash_projection_stats_t get_projection_stats(CombineHash const& combine, unsigned bits, bool low_bits) {
+    // Project hashes to either a suffix (low bits) or prefix (high bits), then
+    // collect occupancy and a scaled squared-error uniformity score.
+    SASSERT(bits <= 16);
+    unsigned const num_buckets = 1u << bits;
+    unsigned const mask = num_buckets - 1;
+    int64_t const signed_num_samples = static_cast<int64_t>(hash_compare_num_samples);
+    int64_t const signed_num_buckets = static_cast<int64_t>(num_buckets);
+    std::vector<unsigned> counts(num_buckets, 0);
+    for (unsigned i = 0; i < hash_compare_num_samples; ++i) {
+        unsigned h = combine(i << hash_compare_alignment_shift, hash_compare_seed);
+        unsigned b = low_bits ? (h & mask) : (h >> (32 - bits));
+        counts[b]++;
+    }
+
+    hash_projection_stats_t stats;
+    for (unsigned c : counts) {
+        if (c != 0)
+            ++stats.m_occupied;
+        // Scaled squared deviation from ideal per-bucket load num_samples/num_buckets.
+        int64_t diff = static_cast<int64_t>(c) * signed_num_buckets - signed_num_samples;
+        stats.m_uniform_error += static_cast<uint64_t>(diff * diff);
+    }
+    return stats;
+}
+
+static void tst_combine_hash_low_bits() {
+    constexpr unsigned bits8 = 8;
+    constexpr unsigned bits16 = 16;
+
+    auto old_low8 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash_old, bits8, true);
+    auto new_low8 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash, bits8, true);
+    auto old_low16 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash_old, bits16, true);
+    auto new_low16 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash, bits16, true);
+    auto old_high8 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash_old, bits8, false);
+    auto new_high8 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash, bits8, false);
+    auto old_high16 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash_old, bits16, false);
+    auto new_high16 = get_projection_stats(combine_hash, bits16, false);
+
+    unsigned old_low8_collisions = hash_compare_num_samples - old_low8.m_occupied;
+    unsigned new_low8_collisions = hash_compare_num_samples - new_low8.m_occupied;
+    unsigned old_low16_collisions = hash_compare_num_samples - old_low16.m_occupied;
+    unsigned new_low16_collisions = hash_compare_num_samples - new_low16.m_occupied;
+
+    ENSURE(new_low8_collisions < old_low8_collisions);
+    ENSURE(new_low16_collisions < old_low16_collisions);
+    ENSURE(new_low8.m_uniform_error < old_low8.m_uniform_error);
+    ENSURE(new_low16.m_uniform_error < old_low16.m_uniform_error);
+
+    std::cout << "combine_hash old/new low8 collisions: "
+              << old_low8_collisions << "/" << new_low8_collisions << "\n";
+    std::cout << "combine_hash old/new low16 collisions: "
+              << old_low16_collisions << "/" << new_low16_collisions << "\n";
+    std::cout << "combine_hash old/new low8 uniform_error: "
+              << old_low8.m_uniform_error << "/" << new_low8.m_uniform_error << "\n";
+    std::cout << "combine_hash old/new low16 uniform_error: "
+              << old_low16.m_uniform_error << "/" << new_low16.m_uniform_error << "\n";
+    std::cout << "combine_hash old/new high8 uniform_error: "
+              << old_high8.m_uniform_error << "/" << new_high8.m_uniform_error << "\n";
+    std::cout << "combine_hash old/new high16 uniform_error: "
+              << old_high16.m_uniform_error << "/" << new_high16.m_uniform_error << "\n";
+}
+
 void tst_chashtable() {
     tst1();
     tst2();
@@ -180,5 +263,6 @@ void tst_chashtable() {
     tst4<dint_table>(1000,10);
     tst4<dint_table>(10000,10);
     tst4<int_table>(50000,1000);
+    tst_combine_hash_low_bits();
     tst5();
 }
diff --git a/src/util/hash.h b/src/util/hash.h
index ac6896bf19..40ea7bfb89 100644
--- a/src/util/hash.h
+++ b/src/util/hash.h
@@ -57,10 +57,8 @@ static inline unsigned hash_ull(unsigned long long a) {
 }
 
 static inline unsigned combine_hash(unsigned h1, unsigned h2) {
-    h2 -= h1; h2 ^= (h1 << 8);
-    h1 -= h2; h2 ^= (h1 << 16);
-    h2 -= h1; h2 ^= (h1 << 10);
-    return h2;
+    h1 ^= h2 + 0x9e3779b9 + (h1 << 6) + (h1 >> 2);
+    return hash_u(h1);
 }
 
 static inline unsigned hash_u_u(unsigned a, unsigned b) {
@@ -256,4 +254,3 @@ static inline unsigned mk_mix(unsigned a, unsigned b, unsigned c) {
     return c;
 }
 
-