diff --git a/include/asm-x86_64/hardirq.h b/include/asm-x86_64/hardirq.h
index 64a65ce2f41fe690033bff1f8ce0d9314b5a9a82..95d5e090ed89eb48d80a6c8b679db973c059d701 100644
--- a/include/asm-x86_64/hardirq.h
+++ b/include/asm-x86_64/hardirq.h
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 #include <asm/pda.h>
 #include <asm/apic.h>
 
+/* We can have at most NR_VECTORS irqs routed to a cpu at a time */
+#define MAX_HARDIRQS_PER_CPU NR_VECTORS
+
 #define __ARCH_IRQ_STAT 1
 
 #define local_softirq_pending() read_pda(__softirq_pending)
diff --git a/include/linux/hardirq.h b/include/linux/hardirq.h
index 50d8b5744cf6fc5d7e5387289e7139e99cb557b3..612472aaa79c1607159794a2257356bde263e9a0 100644
--- a/include/linux/hardirq.h
+++ b/include/linux/hardirq.h
@@ -28,11 +28,16 @@
 
 #ifndef HARDIRQ_BITS
 #define HARDIRQ_BITS	12
+
+#ifndef MAX_HARDIRQS_PER_CPU
+#define MAX_HARDIRQS_PER_CPU NR_IRQS
+#endif
+
 /*
  * The hardirq mask has to be large enough to have space for potentially
  * all IRQ sources in the system nesting on a single CPU.
  */
-#if (1 << HARDIRQ_BITS) < NR_IRQS
+#if (1 << HARDIRQ_BITS) < MAX_HARDIRQS_PER_CPU
 # error HARDIRQ_BITS is too low!
 #endif
 #endif