diff --git a/quattor/functions/hardware.pan b/quattor/functions/hardware.pan
index 7cc987760..ddc21b4c0 100644
--- a/quattor/functions/hardware.pan
+++ b/quattor/functions/hardware.pan
@@ -41,15 +41,11 @@ function get_num_of_cores_max_threads = {
             'threads', 0,
         );
         foreach (i; cpu; hw_config['cpu']) {
+            result['cores'] = result['cores'] + cpu['cores'];
             if (is_defined(cpu['max_threads'])) {
                 result['threads'] = result['threads'] + cpu['max_threads'];
             } else {
-                result['threads'] = result['threads'] + 1;
-            };
-            if (is_defined(cpu['cores'])) {
-                result['cores'] = result['cores'] + cpu['cores'];
-            } else {
-                result['cores'] = result['cores'] + 1;
+                result['threads'] = result['threads'] + cpu['cores'];
             };
         };
         debug('%s: num of CPUs=%d, num of cores=%d', OBJECT, length(hw_config['cpu']), cores);
diff --git a/quattor/types/hardware.pan b/quattor/types/hardware.pan
index 43d468654..cff81790b 100644
--- a/quattor/types/hardware.pan
+++ b/quattor/types/hardware.pan
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ type structure_cpu = {
         deprecated(0, 'The hyperthreading cpu property has been deprecated, please migrate to max_threads');
         true;
     }
+} with {
+    if (exists(SELF['max_threads']) && SELF['max_threads'] < SELF['cores']) {
+        error("Number of execution threads (max_threads) cannot be less than number of CPU cores (cores)");
+    } else {
+        true;
+    };
 };