diff --git a/deepspeed/runtime/config.py b/deepspeed/runtime/config.py
index 19b169086be1..04b122963a38 100755
--- a/deepspeed/runtime/config.py
+++ b/deepspeed/runtime/config.py
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@
 from .data_pipeline.config import get_data_efficiency_enabled, get_data_efficiency_config, get_curriculum_enabled_legacy, get_curriculum_params_legacy
 from .data_pipeline.constants import *
 
+from ..utils.config import get_timers_config
+
 TENSOR_CORE_ALIGN_SIZE = 8
 
 ADAGRAD_OPTIMIZER = 'adagrad'
@@ -911,6 +913,8 @@ def _initialize_params(self, param_dict):
 
         self.compile_config = get_compile_config(param_dict)
 
+        self.timers_config = get_timers_config(param_dict)
+
     def _batch_assertion(self):
 
         train_batch = self.train_batch_size
diff --git a/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py b/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
index 13f335cae6d5..be153b4b4948 100644
--- a/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
+++ b/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
@@ -271,11 +271,10 @@ def __init__(self,
         # Configure wall clock timers
         self.timers = SynchronizedWallClockTimer()
         # Throughput timer
-        self.tput_timer = ThroughputTimer(
-            batch_size=self.train_batch_size(),
-            steps_per_output=self.steps_per_print(),
-            monitor_memory=False,
-        )
+        self.tput_timer = ThroughputTimer(self._config.timers_config,
+                                          batch_size=self.train_batch_size(),
+                                          steps_per_output=self.steps_per_print(),
+                                          monitor_memory=False)
 
         log_dist(f"DeepSpeed Flops Profiler Enabled: {self.flops_profiler_enabled()}", ranks=[0])
 
diff --git a/deepspeed/runtime/pipe/engine.py b/deepspeed/runtime/pipe/engine.py
index be8fe1a368c6..f661e779954b 100644
--- a/deepspeed/runtime/pipe/engine.py
+++ b/deepspeed/runtime/pipe/engine.py
@@ -117,7 +117,8 @@ def __init__(self, has_bool_tensors=False, *super_args, **super_kwargs):
 
         self._force_grad_boundary = False
 
-        self.batch_timer = ThroughputTimer(batch_size=self.train_batch_size(),
+        self.batch_timer = ThroughputTimer(self._config.timers_config,
+                                           batch_size=self.train_batch_size(),
                                            logging_fn=self.tput_log,
                                            monitor_memory=False,
                                            steps_per_output=self.steps_per_print())
diff --git a/deepspeed/utils/config.py b/deepspeed/utils/config.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..15f37ca7d874
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deepspeed/utils/config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+# DeepSpeed Team
+
+from deepspeed.runtime.config_utils import DeepSpeedConfigModel
+
+#########################################
+# Timers
+#########################################
+# Timers. By default, timers are enabled.
+# Users can configure in ds_config.json as below example:
+TIMERS_FORMAT = '''
+Timers should be enabled as:
+"timers": {
+  "throughput": {
+    "enabled": true,
+    "synchronized": true
+  }
+}
+'''
+
+TIMERS = "timers"
+TIMERS_THROUGHPUT = "throughput"
+
+
+def get_timers_config(param_dict):
+    if param_dict and TIMERS in param_dict and TIMERS_THROUGHPUT in param_dict[TIMERS]:
+        timers_config_dict = param_dict[TIMERS][TIMERS_THROUGHPUT]
+    else:
+        timers_config_dict = {}
+    return DeepSpeedThroughputTimerConfig(**timers_config_dict)
+
+
+class DeepSpeedThroughputTimerConfig(DeepSpeedConfigModel):
+    """ Configure throughput timers """
+
+    enabled: bool = True
+    """ Turn on/off throughput timers """
+
+    synchronized: bool = True
+    """ Whether to synchronize a device when measuring the time.
+        Synchronizing a device is required to produce the most accurate timer measurements.
+        However, this comes at the expense of performance degradation. The CPU timer provides
+        sufficient accuracy in many cases.
+      """
diff --git a/deepspeed/utils/timer.py b/deepspeed/utils/timer.py
index 11ef54fe4665..dd78b207cc37 100755
--- a/deepspeed/utils/timer.py
+++ b/deepspeed/utils/timer.py
@@ -197,15 +197,9 @@ def get_mean(self, names, normalizer=1.0, reset=True):
 
 class ThroughputTimer:
 
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        batch_size,
-        start_step=2,
-        steps_per_output=50,
-        monitor_memory=False,
-        logging_fn=None,
-    ):
+    def __init__(self, config, batch_size, start_step=2, steps_per_output=50, monitor_memory=False, logging_fn=None):
         from deepspeed.utils import logger
+        self.config = config
         self.start_time = 0
         self.end_time = 0
         self.started = False
@@ -234,14 +228,17 @@ def _init_timer(self):
         self.initialized = True
 
     def start(self):
+        if not self.config.enabled:
+            return
         self._init_timer()
         self.started = True
         if self.global_step_count >= self.start_step:
-            get_accelerator().synchronize()
+            if self.config.synchronized:
+                get_accelerator().synchronize()
             self.start_time = time.time()
 
     def stop(self, global_step=False, report_speed=True):
-        if not self.started:
+        if not self.config.enabled or not self.started:
             return
         self.started = False
         self.micro_step_count += 1
@@ -249,7 +246,8 @@ def stop(self, global_step=False, report_speed=True):
             self.global_step_count += 1
 
         if self.start_time > 0:
-            get_accelerator().synchronize()
+            if self.config.synchronized:
+                get_accelerator().synchronize()
             self.end_time = time.time()
             duration = self.end_time - self.start_time
             self.total_elapsed_time += duration