diff --git a/hw/mips/boston.c b/hw/mips/boston.c
index 1b3f69e949..cf2296f448 100644
--- a/hw/mips/boston.c
+++ b/hw/mips/boston.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include "hw/mips/cps.h"
 #include "hw/mips/cpudevs.h"
 #include "hw/pci-host/xilinx-pcie.h"
+#include "hw/qdev-clock.h"
 #include "hw/qdev-properties.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ struct BostonState {
     MachineState *mach;
     MIPSCPSState cps;
     SerialMM *uart;
+    Clock *cpuclk;
 
     CharBackend lcd_display;
     char lcd_content[8];
@@ -251,10 +253,19 @@ static const MemoryRegionOps boston_platreg_ops = {
     .endianness = DEVICE_NATIVE_ENDIAN,
 };
 
+static void mips_boston_instance_init(Object *obj)
+{
+    BostonState *s = BOSTON(obj);
+
+    s->cpuclk = qdev_init_clock_out(DEVICE(obj), "cpu-refclk");
+    clock_set_hz(s->cpuclk, 1000000000); /* 1 GHz */
+}
+
 static const TypeInfo boston_device = {
     .name          = TYPE_MIPS_BOSTON,
     .parent        = TYPE_SYS_BUS_DEVICE,
     .instance_size = sizeof(BostonState),
+    .instance_init = mips_boston_instance_init,
 };
 
 static void boston_register_types(void)
@@ -462,6 +473,8 @@ static void boston_mach_init(MachineState *machine)
                             &error_fatal);
     object_property_set_int(OBJECT(&s->cps), "num-vp", machine->smp.cpus,
                             &error_fatal);
+    qdev_connect_clock_in(DEVICE(&s->cps), "clk-in",
+                          qdev_get_clock_out(dev, "cpu-refclk"));
     sysbus_realize(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(&s->cps), &error_fatal);
 
     sysbus_mmio_map_overlap(SYS_BUS_DEVICE(&s->cps), 0, 0, 1);