diff --git a/tests/qtest/numa-test.c b/tests/qtest/numa-test.c
index 5518f6596b..ede418963c 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/numa-test.c
+++ b/tests/qtest/numa-test.c
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@ static void pc_numa_cpu(const void *data)
     QTestState *qts;
     g_autofree char *cli = NULL;
 
-    cli = make_cli(data, "-cpu pentium -machine smp.cpus=8,smp.sockets=2,smp.cores=2,smp.threads=2 "
+    cli = make_cli(data,
+        "-cpu max -machine smp.cpus=8,smp.sockets=2,smp.cores=2,smp.threads=2 "
         "-numa node,nodeid=0,memdev=ram -numa node,nodeid=1 "
         "-numa cpu,node-id=1,socket-id=0 "
         "-numa cpu,node-id=0,socket-id=1,core-id=0 "