diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 31febe965c..1fcacc5caa 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -1230,11 +1230,14 @@ static void smp_parse(QemuOpts *opts)
 
         /* compute missing values, prefer sockets over cores over threads */
         if (cpus == 0 || sockets == 0) {
-            sockets = sockets > 0 ? sockets : 1;
             cores = cores > 0 ? cores : 1;
             threads = threads > 0 ? threads : 1;
             if (cpus == 0) {
+                sockets = sockets > 0 ? sockets : 1;
                 cpus = cores * threads * sockets;
+            } else {
+                max_cpus = qemu_opt_get_number(opts, "maxcpus", cpus);
+                sockets = max_cpus / (cores * threads);
             }
         } else if (cores == 0) {
             threads = threads > 0 ? threads : 1;