{
        switch (boot_cpu_data.x86_vendor) {
        case X86_VENDOR_INTEL:
-               if (boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_NOPL)) {
+               /*
+                * Due to a decoder implementation quirk, some
+                * specific Intel CPUs actually perform better with
+                * the "k8_nops" than with the SDM-recommended NOPs.
+                */
+               if (boot_cpu_data.x86 == 6 &&
+                   boot_cpu_data.x86_model >= 0x0f &&
+                   boot_cpu_data.x86_model != 0x1c &&
+                   boot_cpu_data.x86_model != 0x26 &&
+                   boot_cpu_data.x86_model != 0x27 &&
+                   boot_cpu_data.x86_model < 0x30) {
+                       ideal_nops = k8_nops;
+               } else if (boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_NOPL)) {
                           ideal_nops = p6_nops;
                } else {
 #ifdef CONFIG_X86_64