diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5073eee03..9934a740e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 - PR #546 Remove CUDA driver linking and correct NVTX macro.
 - PR #569 Correct `device_scalar::set_value` to pass host value by reference to avoid copying from invalid value
 - PR #559 Fix `align_down` to only change unaligned values.
+- PR #577 Fix CMake `LOGGING_LEVEL` issue which caused verbose logging / performance regression.
 
 
 # RMM 0.15.0 (26 Aug 2020)
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b8266ec9c..faad6dd00 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -87,21 +87,6 @@ if(PER_THREAD_DEFAULT_STREAM)
     add_compile_definitions(CUDA_API_PER_THREAD_DEFAULT_STREAM)
 endif(PER_THREAD_DEFAULT_STREAM)
 
-###################################################################################################
-# add gtest
-
-if(BUILD_TESTS)
-    include(CTest)
-    add_subdirectory(tests)
-endif(BUILD_TESTS)
-
-###################################################################################################
-# add google benchmark
-
-if(BUILD_BENCHMARKS)
-  add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
-endif(BUILD_BENCHMARKS)
-
 ###################################################################################################
 # library targets
 
@@ -129,20 +114,28 @@ endif(CUDA_STATIC_RUNTIME)
 target_link_libraries(rmm INTERFACE spdlog::spdlog_header_only)
 
 ###################################################################################################
-# Set a default logging level if none was specified
+# Set logging level. Must go before including gtests and benchmarks. 
 
-set(DEFAULT_LOGGING_LEVEL "INFO")
+set(RMM_LOGGING_LEVEL "INFO" CACHE STRING "Choose the logging level.")
+# Set the possible values of build type for cmake-gui
+set_property(CACHE RMM_LOGGING_LEVEL PROPERTY STRINGS
+    "TRACE" "DEBUG" "INFO" "WARN" "ERROR" "CRITICAL" "OFF")
+message(STATUS "RMM_LOGGING_LEVEL = '${RMM_LOGGING_LEVEL}'.")
 
-if(NOT LOGGING_LEVEL)
-    message(STATUS "Setting logging level to '${DEFAULT_LOGGING_LEVEL}' since none specified.")
-    set(LOGGING_LEVEL "${DEFAULT_LOGGING_LEVEL}" CACHE
-      STRING "Choose the logging level." FORCE)
-    # Set the possible values of build type for cmake-gui
-    set_property(CACHE LOGGING_LEVEL PROPERTY STRINGS
-        "TRACE" "DEBUG" "INFO" "WARN" "ERROR" "CRITICAL" "OFF")
-else()
-    message(STATUS "Setting logging level to '${LOGGING_LEVEL}'")
-endif(NOT LOGGING_LEVEL)
+###################################################################################################
+# add gtest
+
+if(BUILD_TESTS)
+    include(CTest)
+    add_subdirectory(tests)
+endif(BUILD_TESTS)
+
+###################################################################################################
+# add google benchmark
+
+if(BUILD_BENCHMARKS)
+  add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
+endif(BUILD_BENCHMARKS)
 
 ###################################################################################################
 # install targets
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fd68fd21e..4b0d494e0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -407,15 +407,15 @@ information can show when errors occur, when additional memory is allocated from
 etc. The default log file is `rmm_log.txt` in the current working directory, but the environment
 variable `RMM_DEBUG_LOG_FILE` can be set to specify the path and file name.
 
-There is a CMake configuration variable `LOGGING_LEVEL`, which can be set to enable compilation of
-more detailed logging. The default is `INFO`. Available levels are `TRACE`, `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARN`,
-`ERROR`, `CRITICAL`.
+There is a CMake configuration variable `RMM_LOGGING_LEVEL`, which can be set to enable compilation
+of more detailed logging. The default is `INFO`. Available levels are `TRACE`, `DEBUG`, `INFO`,
+`WARN`, `ERROR`, `CRITICAL` and `OFF`.
 
 The log relies on the [spdlog](https://github.com/gabime/spdlog.git) library.
 
 Note that to see logging below the `INFO` level, the C++ application must also call
 `rmm::logger().set_level()`, e.g. to enable all levels of logging down to `TRACE`, call 
-`rmm::logger().set_level(spdlog::level::trace)`.
+`rmm::logger().set_level(spdlog::level::trace)` (and compile with `-DRMM_LOGGING_LEVEL=TRACE`).
 
 Note that debug logging is different from the CSV memory allocation logging provided by 
 `rmm::mr::logging_resource_adapter`. The latter is for logging a history of allocation /
diff --git a/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt b/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
index 1a91b6dd2..01ee5f1ed 100644
--- a/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ function(ConfigureBench CMAKE_BENCH_NAME CMAKE_BENCH_SRC)
                         RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${RMM_BINARY_DIR}/gbenchmarks")
   
   target_compile_definitions(${CMAKE_BENCH_NAME} PUBLIC
-                             SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL=SPDLOG_LEVEL_${LOGGING_LEVEL})    
+                             "SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL=SPDLOG_LEVEL_${RMM_LOGGING_LEVEL}")    
 endfunction(ConfigureBench)
 
 ###################################################################################################
diff --git a/include/rmm/logger.hpp b/include/rmm/logger.hpp
index 3e6629a89..433b5fb96 100644
--- a/include/rmm/logger.hpp
+++ b/include/rmm/logger.hpp
@@ -58,12 +58,14 @@ struct logger_wrapper {
   {
     logger_.set_pattern("[%6t][%H:%M:%S:%f][%-6l] %v");
     logger_.flush_on(spdlog::level::warn);
+#if SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL <= SPDLOG_LEVEL_INFO
 #ifdef CUDA_API_PER_THREAD_DEFAULT_STREAM
     logger_.info("----- RMM LOG BEGIN [PTDS ENABLED] -----");
 #else
     logger_.info("----- RMM LOG BEGIN [PTDS DISABLED] -----");
 #endif
     logger_.flush();
+#endif
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index e8fb9c918..fb02ae0cb 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ function(ConfigureTest CMAKE_TEST_NAME CMAKE_TEST_SRC)
                         RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${RMM_BINARY_DIR}/gtests")
 
   target_compile_definitions(${CMAKE_TEST_NAME} PUBLIC
-                             SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL=SPDLOG_LEVEL_${LOGGING_LEVEL})
+                        "SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL=SPDLOG_LEVEL_${RMM_LOGGING_LEVEL}")    
 
   add_test(NAME ${CMAKE_TEST_NAME} COMMAND ${CMAKE_TEST_NAME})
 endfunction(ConfigureTest)