diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile.perf b/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
index 178a1c87db13..a24f6c280b95 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile.perf
@@ -576,7 +576,21 @@ $(OUTPUT)perf.o perf.spec \
 	: $(OUTPUT)PERF-VERSION-FILE
 
 .SUFFIXES:
-.SUFFIXES: .o .c .S .s
+
+#
+# If a target does not match any of the later rules then prefix it by $(OUTPUT)
+# This makes targets like 'make O=/tmp/perf perf.o' work in a natural way.
+#
+ifneq ($(OUTPUT),)
+%.o: $(OUTPUT)%.o
+	@echo "    # Redirected target $@ => $(OUTPUT)$@"
+util/%.o: $(OUTPUT)util/%.o
+	@echo "    # Redirected target $@ => $(OUTPUT)util/$@"
+bench/%.o: $(OUTPUT)bench/%.o
+	@echo "    # Redirected target $@ => $(OUTPUT)bench/$@"
+tests/%.o: $(OUTPUT)tests/%.o
+	@echo "    # Redirected target $@ => $(OUTPUT)tests/$@"
+endif
 
 # These two need to be here so that when O= is not used they take precedence
 # over the general rule for .o