diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+1.2.4
+
+- Unpack Word32 values into UUID constructor.
+
 1.2.3
 
 - The Read instance now drops leading spaces in the string to be parsed.
diff --git a/Data/UUID/Internal.hs b/Data/UUID/Internal.hs
--- a/Data/UUID/Internal.hs
+++ b/Data/UUID/Internal.hs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 -- |
 -- Module      : Data.UUID
--- Copyright   : (c) 2008-2009 Antoine Latter
+-- Copyright   : (c) 2008-2009, 2012 Antoine Latter
 --               (c) 2009 Mark Lentczner
 --
 -- License     : BSD-style
@@ -55,7 +55,12 @@
 -- version 4 UUIDs as specified in RFC 4122.  The 'Storable' and
 -- 'Binary' instances are compatible with RFC 4122, storing the fields
 -- in network order as 16 bytes.
-data UUID = UUID !Word32 !Word32 !Word32 !Word32
+data UUID 
+    = UUID
+         {-# UNPACK #-} !Word32
+         {-# UNPACK #-} !Word32
+         {-# UNPACK #-} !Word32
+         {-# UNPACK #-} !Word32
     deriving (Eq, Ord, Typeable)
 {-
     Other representations that we tried are:
diff --git a/tests/BenchUUID.hs b/tests/BenchUUID.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/BenchUUID.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+import Control.DeepSeq
+import Criterion.Main
+import Data.Char (ord)
+import Data.IORef
+import Data.Maybe (fromJust)
+import Data.Word
+import qualified Data.Set as Set
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as BL
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy.Internal as BL
+import qualified Data.UUID as U
+import qualified Data.UUID.V1 as U
+import qualified Data.UUID.V3 as U3
+import qualified Data.UUID.V5 as U5
+import System.Random
+import System.Random.Mersenne.Pure64
+
+instance NFData BL.ByteString where
+    rnf BL.Empty        = ()
+    rnf (BL.Chunk _ ts) = rnf ts
+
+instance NFData U.UUID where
+
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = do
+        u1 <- randomIO
+        let s1 = U.toString u1
+            b1 = U.toByteString u1
+            n1 = (map (fromIntegral . ord) "http://www.haskell.org/") :: [Word8]
+            nil2 = fromJust $
+                        U.fromString "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
+            u2a = fromJust $ U.fromString "169a5a43-c051-4a16-98f4-08447ddd5dc0"
+            u2b = fromJust $ U.fromByteString $
+                        BL.pack [0x16, 0x9a, 0x5a, 0x43, 0xc0, 0x51, 0x4a, 0x16,
+                                 0x98, 0xf4, 0x08, 0x44, 0x7d, 0xdd, 0x5d, 0xc0]
+            u3  = fromJust $ U.fromString "dea6f619-1038-438b-b4af-f1cdec1e6e23"
+
+        -- setup for random generation
+        randomState <- newPureMT >>= newIORef
+        let randomUUID = do
+              state <- readIORef randomState
+              let (uuid, state') = random state
+              writeIORef randomState state'
+              return uuid
+
+        defaultMain [
+            bgroup "testing" [
+                bench "null non-nil"   $ whnf U.null u1,
+                bench "null nil"       $ whnf U.null U.nil,
+                bench "null nil2"      $ whnf U.null nil2,
+                bench "eq same"        $ whnf (==u2a) u2b,
+                bench "eq differ"      $ whnf (==u2a) u3
+                ],
+            bgroup "conversion" [
+                bench "toString"       $ nf U.toString u1,
+                bench "fromString"     $ nf U.fromString s1,
+                bench "toByteString"   $ nf U.toByteString u1,
+                bench "fromByteString" $ nf U.fromByteString b1
+                ],
+            bgroup "generation" [
+                bench "V1" $ nfIO U.nextUUID,
+                bench "V4" $ nfIO (randomUUID :: IO U.UUID),
+                bench "V3" $ nf   (U3.generateNamed U3.namespaceURL) n1,
+                bench "V5" $ nf   (U5.generateNamed U5.namespaceURL) n1
+                ],
+            bench "set making" $ nf Set.fromList uuids
+            ]
+
+-- 50 uuids, so tests can be repeatable
+uuids :: [U.UUID]
+uuids 
+    = map (fromJust . U.fromString)
+        [
+         "35d42593-1fca-4465-b588-a2e78cb996ba",
+         "1e97e407-eca7-4c5d-a947-6fbe9dc168b6",
+         "a41fd7ce-a053-4c0a-a742-77c95b85da2a",
+         "f7e3913a-0fd7-4355-a92f-d73f9b046efa",
+         "8961a35d-55c2-42f3-8680-08fce3986647",
+         "96246c58-d0b4-4e56-a543-356bd59686a9",
+         "72c46194-648c-4b1e-a9fb-2eba060ab43b",
+         "0fc252d4-a37b-4eca-9309-e3d2a59a3a22",
+         "a8aceb5a-6a8e-43f3-85bb-9653a3c1ebcd",
+         "b23d1118-6bc8-4add-9d56-99634d78949f",
+         "5f8c7896-9c4f-4d7e-a4d2-961bda298012",
+         "219a4137-7bc5-42b1-ac95-490948a978e1",
+         "5af5024f-fbe9-45ab-991d-49b655994437",
+         "569dfb33-185d-4a3c-99c4-bc2b83250a7c",
+         "43a58442-aa51-4a5d-8e00-b8a83b5fc5b0",
+         "2865ced1-b54d-4725-8f01-b408f4617424",
+         "b8cfaff0-4dee-4f32-af2f-0469b3e535fc",
+         "63f45bc0-f303-4f1a-b0d6-76f876be626d",
+         "d171eaf3-f20d-45d6-9268-0cc22dfbe887",
+         "7c28f457-ad27-494a-8642-6e47e7f3efb8",
+         "f8de9193-66ff-49e8-9826-fc50858d7855",
+         "2af85f28-cace-4740-b8bb-2b5860f5fdb3",
+         "b12a7a22-edb3-4694-b8f4-0532eaad6112",
+         "5e052a08-8e49-4668-bbe7-77cdbc4679a3",
+         "42d5a68d-3f08-4e39-9b8c-71cc17c538ed",
+         "ba2b1487-b3a4-4a19-98cc-59530f36613f",
+         "e4a5c569-b8ac-4851-8ad2-fbdb89986be2",
+         "35b4a1b6-b5ca-4646-803b-c337ee730d9a",
+         "f0df1206-05d9-49d6-a726-d49fb253e645",
+         "9656a0f0-89b2-4cec-bb1c-fdf5633e1cd7",
+         "d13382f5-04a1-422d-94d6-e47219425816",
+         "b8d0c762-4c6b-4bd0-ad0b-f68988a87166",
+         "06360e85-f18a-44f6-aa72-45f1e60b6b77",
+         "347491ca-62b3-48e8-ac94-6ffebe1318ed",
+         "014339d0-7b2d-4dda-914b-14ee5cb4391b",
+         "dc57931b-4744-41be-b3c4-e24dbeeb606a",
+         "2c9fdcf0-e1d6-4a2d-951d-4766b99032cb",
+         "b6bde422-eea8-4231-bf1c-ee0e56699511",
+         "921073c5-f7c1-4583-ac03-aeb7aef8662b",
+         "eff6a517-aeb1-453e-9810-1b4b324c5a1e",
+         "eadaae8c-cbf8-4e0b-ab80-e34284b07dad",
+         "4d307c36-70d9-453f-8455-ec7e2ba405ed",
+         "53ddef9a-2413-4f7f-8363-cff56ee17c6c",
+         "4dd4c27a-b300-4a00-ab87-eef505275492",
+         "4a5d7001-f0c1-4e2f-8362-8833bda2114b",
+         "0c46f438-9365-406a-b04e-34436806ec25",
+         "b35469cf-05f8-40ff-a38b-117604347957",
+         "f1c54df0-5f59-4891-b3c6-82bac0d814ca",
+         "8091837c-6456-42c3-a686-f4731a41d4f9",
+         "2a0e2efb-a11c-4a44-81ee-3efc37379b48"
+        ]
+
diff --git a/tests/TestUUID.hs b/tests/TestUUID.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/TestUUID.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+import Control.Monad (replicateM)
+import Data.Bits
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as B
+import Data.Char (ord)
+import Data.List (nub, (\\))
+import Data.Maybe
+import Data.Word
+import qualified Data.UUID as U
+import qualified Data.UUID.V1 as U
+import qualified Data.UUID.V3 as U3
+import qualified Data.UUID.V5 as U5
+import Test.HUnit
+import Test.QuickCheck hiding ((.&.))
+import System.IO
+import System.Random
+
+
+isValidVersion :: Int -> U.UUID -> Bool
+isValidVersion v u = lenOK && variantOK && versionOK
+    where bs = U.toByteString u
+          lenOK = B.length bs == 16
+          variantOK = (B.index bs 8) .&. 0xc0 == 0x80
+          versionOK = (B.index bs 6) .&. 0xf0 == fromIntegral (v `shiftL` 4)
+
+
+instance Arbitrary U.UUID where
+    -- the UUID random instance ignores bounds
+    arbitrary = choose (U.nil, U.nil)
+
+-- instance Arbitrary Word8 where
+--     arbitrary = (fromIntegral . fst . randomR (0,255::Int)) `fmap` rand
+
+
+test_null :: Test
+test_null = TestList [
+    "nil is null"              ~: assertBool "" (U.null U.nil),
+    "namespaceDNS is not null" ~: assertBool "" (not $ U.null U3.namespaceDNS)
+    ]
+
+test_nil :: Test
+test_nil = TestList [
+    "nil string" ~: U.toString U.nil @?= "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
+    "nil bytes"  ~: U.toByteString U.nil @?= B.pack (replicate 16 0)
+    ]
+
+test_conv :: Test
+test_conv = TestList [
+    "conv bytes to string" ~:
+        maybe "" (U.toString) (U.fromByteString b16) @?= s16,
+    "conv string to bytes" ~:
+        maybe B.empty (U.toByteString) (U.fromString s16) @?= b16
+    ]
+    where b16 = B.pack [1..16]
+          s16 = "01020304-0506-0708-090a-0b0c0d0e0f10"
+
+test_v1 :: [Maybe U.UUID] -> Test
+test_v1 v1s = TestList [
+    "V1 unique" ~: nub (v1s \\ nub v1s) @?= [],
+    "V1 not null" ~: TestList $ map (testUUID (not . U.null))  v1s,
+    "V1 valid"    ~: TestList $ map (testUUID (isValidVersion 1)) v1s
+    ]
+    where testUUID :: (U.UUID -> Bool) -> Maybe U.UUID -> Test
+          testUUID p u = maybe False p u ~? show u
+
+test_v3 :: Test
+test_v3 = TestList [
+    "V3 computation" ~:
+          U3.generateNamed U3.namespaceDNS name @?= uV3
+    ]
+    where name = map (fromIntegral . ord) "www.widgets.com" :: [Word8]
+          uV3 = fromJust $ U.fromString "3d813cbb-47fb-32ba-91df-831e1593ac29"
+
+test_v5 :: Test
+test_v5 = TestList [
+    "V5 computation" ~:
+          U5.generateNamed U5.namespaceDNS name @?= uV5
+    ]
+    where name = map (fromIntegral . ord) "www.widgets.com" :: [Word8]
+          uV5 = fromJust $ U.fromString "21f7f8de-8051-5b89-8680-0195ef798b6a"
+
+prop_stringRoundTrip :: Property
+prop_stringRoundTrip = label "String round trip" stringRoundTrip
+    where stringRoundTrip :: U.UUID -> Bool
+          stringRoundTrip u = maybe False (== u) $ U.fromString (U.toString u)
+
+prop_byteStringRoundTrip :: Property
+prop_byteStringRoundTrip = label "ByteString round trip" byteStringRoundTrip
+    where byteStringRoundTrip :: U.UUID -> Bool
+          byteStringRoundTrip u = maybe False (== u)
+                                    $ U.fromByteString (U.toByteString u)
+
+prop_stringLength :: Property
+prop_stringLength = label "String length" stringLength
+    where stringLength :: U.UUID -> Bool
+          stringLength u = length (U.toString u) == 36
+
+prop_byteStringLength :: Property
+prop_byteStringLength = label "ByteString length" byteStringLength
+    where byteStringLength :: U.UUID -> Bool
+          byteStringLength u = B.length (U.toByteString u) == 16
+
+prop_randomsDiffer :: Property
+prop_randomsDiffer = label "Randoms differ" randomsDiffer
+    where randomsDiffer :: (U.UUID, U.UUID) -> Bool
+          randomsDiffer (u1, u2) = u1 /= u2
+
+prop_randomNotNull :: Property
+prop_randomNotNull = label "Random not null" randomNotNull
+    where randomNotNull :: U.UUID -> Bool
+          randomNotNull = not. U.null
+
+prop_randomsValid :: Property
+prop_randomsValid = label "Random valid" randomsValid
+    where randomsValid :: U.UUID -> Bool
+          randomsValid = isValidVersion 4
+
+prop_v3NotNull :: Property
+prop_v3NotNull = label "V3 not null" v3NotNull
+    where v3NotNull :: [Word8] -> Bool
+          v3NotNull = not . U.null . U3.generateNamed U3.namespaceDNS
+
+prop_v3Valid :: Property
+prop_v3Valid = label "V3 valid" v3Valid
+    where v3Valid :: [Word8] -> Bool
+          v3Valid = isValidVersion 3 . U3.generateNamed U3.namespaceDNS
+
+prop_v5NotNull :: Property
+prop_v5NotNull = label "V5 not null" v5NotNull
+    where v5NotNull :: [Word8] -> Bool
+          v5NotNull = not . U.null . U5.generateNamed U5.namespaceDNS
+
+prop_v5Valid :: Property
+prop_v5Valid = label "V5 valid" v5Valid
+    where v5Valid :: [Word8] -> Bool
+          v5Valid = isValidVersion 5 . U5.generateNamed U5.namespaceDNS
+
+prop_readShowRoundTrip :: Property
+prop_readShowRoundTrip = label "Read/Show round-trip" prop
+    where -- we're using 'Maybe UUID' to add a bit of
+          -- real-world complexity.
+          prop :: U.UUID -> Bool
+          prop uuid = read (show (Just uuid)) == Just uuid
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = do
+    v1s <- replicateM 100 U.nextUUID
+    runTestText (putTextToHandle stderr False) (TestList [
+        test_null,
+        test_nil,
+        test_conv,
+        test_v1 v1s,
+        test_v3,
+        test_v5
+        ])
+    mapM_ quickCheck $ [
+        prop_stringRoundTrip,
+        prop_readShowRoundTrip,
+        prop_byteStringRoundTrip,
+        prop_stringLength,
+        prop_byteStringLength,
+        prop_randomsDiffer,
+        prop_randomNotNull,
+        prop_randomsValid,
+        prop_v3NotNull,
+        prop_v3Valid,
+        prop_v5NotNull,
+        prop_v5Valid
+        ]
diff --git a/uuid.cabal b/uuid.cabal
--- a/uuid.cabal
+++ b/uuid.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Name: uuid
-Version: 1.2.3
-Copyright: (c) 2008-2011 Antoine Latter
+Version: 1.2.4
+Copyright: (c) 2008-2012 Antoine Latter
 Author: Antoine Latter
 Maintainer: aslatter@gmail.com
 License: BSD3
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@
  Ghc-Shared-Options:
  Ghc-Options:        -Wall
 
+source-repository   head
+  type:             darcs
+  location:         http://code.haskell.org/uuid
+
 -- not strictly a test, but we want it to error if
 -- it can't build
 Test-Suite benchmark
@@ -52,8 +56,8 @@
     Main-is:           BenchUUID.hs
     Hs-source-dirs:    tests
     Extensions:        DeriveDataTypeable, CPP
-    Build-depends:     base == 4.*, uuid, random, criterion >= 0.4 && < 0.6, mersenne-random-pure64,
-                       bytestring == 0.9.*, containers == 0.4.*, deepseq == 1.1.*
+    Build-depends:     base == 4.*, uuid, random, criterion >= 0.4 && < 0.7, mersenne-random-pure64,
+                       bytestring == 0.9.*, containers == 0.4.*, deepseq >= 1.1 && < 1.4
 
 Test-Suite testuuid
     Type:              exitcode-stdio-1.0
@@ -62,4 +66,4 @@
     Extensions:        DeriveDataTypeable
     Ghc-Options:       -Wall -fno-warn-orphans
     Build-Depends:     random, bytestring, base >=3, base < 5, uuid,
-                       HUnit >=1.2 && < 1.3, QuickCheck >=1.2 && < 1.3
+                       HUnit >=1.2 && < 1.3, QuickCheck >=2.4 && < 2.5
