diff --git a/pkg/sql/drop_test.go b/pkg/sql/drop_test.go
index 04677df43adc..12b164422cb6 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/drop_test.go
+++ b/pkg/sql/drop_test.go
@@ -1557,42 +1557,52 @@ func TestDropLargeDatabaseWithDeclarativeSchemaChanger(t *testing.T) {
 func TestTruncateLarge(t *testing.T) {
 	defer leaktest.AfterTest(t)()
 	defer log.Scope(t).Close(t)
-	skip.UnderDuress(t, "truncating a large number of tables")
+	testTruncateLarge(t, true /* batchLimitSet */)
+}
 
-	testutils.RunTrueAndFalse(t, "batch limit set", func(t *testing.T, batchLimitSet bool) {
-		ctx := context.Background()
-		srv, conn, _ := serverutils.StartServer(t, base.TestServerArgs{})
-		defer srv.Stopper().Stop(ctx)
-		sqlDB := sqlutils.MakeSQLRunner(conn)
-		createCommand := strings.Builder{}
-		truncateCommand := strings.Builder{}
-		systemDB := sqlutils.MakeSQLRunner(srv.SystemLayer().SQLConn(t))
-		systemDB.Exec(t, "SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.raft.command.max_size='5m'")
-		if batchLimitSet {
-			sqlDB.Exec(t, "SET CLUSTER SETTING sql.schema_changer.batch_flush_threshold_size='2m'")
-		}
-		// Generate the truncate and create table commands.
-		const numTables = 500
-		truncateCommand.WriteString("TRUNCATE TABLE ")
-		for i := range numTables {
-			createCommand.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("CREATE TABLE t%d (a INT PRIMARY KEY, j INT, k INT, INDEX (j), INDEX (k), UNIQUE (j, k));\n", i))
-			truncateCommand.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("t%d", i))
-			if i != numTables-1 {
-				truncateCommand.WriteString(", ")
-			}
-		}
-		// Execute the create commands first.
-		sqlDB.Exec(t, createCommand.String())
+// TestTruncateLargeErr verifies that an error is returned if the batch limit is
+// effectively not set.
+func TestTruncateLargeErr(t *testing.T) {
+	defer leaktest.AfterTest(t)()
+	defer log.Scope(t).Close(t)
+	testTruncateLarge(t, false /* batchLimitSet */)
+}
 
-		// The default limit is larger than our reduced raft command size, so if the
-		// limit is not modified, the truncate command will fail.
-		if batchLimitSet {
-			sqlDB.Exec(t, truncateCommand.String())
-		} else {
-			sqlDB.ExpectErr(t, "command is too large", truncateCommand.String())
-		}
+func testTruncateLarge(t *testing.T, batchLimitSet bool) {
+	skip.UnderDuress(t, "truncating a large number of tables")
+
+	srv, conn, _ := serverutils.StartServer(t, base.TestServerArgs{
+		SQLMemoryPoolSize: 1 << 30, /* 1 GiB */
 	})
+	defer srv.Stopper().Stop(context.Background())
+	sqlDB := sqlutils.MakeSQLRunner(conn)
+	createCommand := strings.Builder{}
+	truncateCommand := strings.Builder{}
+	systemDB := sqlutils.MakeSQLRunner(srv.SystemLayer().SQLConn(t))
+	systemDB.Exec(t, "SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.raft.command.max_size='4.1MiB'")
+	if batchLimitSet {
+		sqlDB.Exec(t, "SET CLUSTER SETTING sql.schema_changer.batch_flush_threshold_size='1.8MiB'")
+	}
+	// Generate the truncate and create table commands.
+	const numTables = 340
+	truncateCommand.WriteString("TRUNCATE TABLE ")
+	for i := range numTables {
+		createCommand.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("CREATE TABLE t%d (a INT PRIMARY KEY, j INT, k INT, INDEX (j), INDEX (k), UNIQUE (j, k));\n", i))
+		truncateCommand.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("t%d", i))
+		if i != numTables-1 {
+			truncateCommand.WriteString(", ")
+		}
+	}
+	// Execute the create commands first.
+	sqlDB.Exec(t, createCommand.String())
 
+	// The default limit is larger than our reduced raft command size, so if the
+	// limit is not modified, the truncate command will fail.
+	if batchLimitSet {
+		sqlDB.Exec(t, truncateCommand.String())
+	} else {
+		sqlDB.ExpectErr(t, "command is too large", truncateCommand.String())
+	}
 }
 
 func BenchmarkDropLargeDatabaseWithGenerateTestObjects(b *testing.B) {