diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
index 90b3924071b6..9b9566bf3301 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -1650,6 +1650,12 @@ and is between 256 and 4096 characters. It is defined in the file
 	oprofile.timer=	[HW]
 			Use timer interrupt instead of performance counters
 
+	oprofile.force_arch_perfmon=1	[X86]
+			Force use of architectural perfmon instead of
+			the CPU specific event set.
+			This might be useful if you have older oprofile
+			userland or if you want common events over Intel CPUs.
+
 	osst=		[HW,SCSI] SCSI Tape Driver
 			Format: <buffer_size>,<write_threshold>
 			See also Documentation/scsi/st.txt.
diff --git a/arch/x86/oprofile/nmi_int.c b/arch/x86/oprofile/nmi_int.c
index 202864ad49a7..e5171c99e157 100644
--- a/arch/x86/oprofile/nmi_int.c
+++ b/arch/x86/oprofile/nmi_int.c
@@ -389,10 +389,16 @@ static int __init p4_init(char **cpu_type)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int force_arch_perfmon;
+module_param(force_arch_perfmon, int, 0);
+
 static int __init ppro_init(char **cpu_type)
 {
 	__u8 cpu_model = boot_cpu_data.x86_model;
 
+	if (force_arch_perfmon && cpu_has_arch_perfmon)
+		return 0;
+
 	switch (cpu_model) {
 	case 0 ... 2:
 		*cpu_type = "i386/ppro";