diff --git a/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c b/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c
index 53d8fb00d8..07699568a3 100644
--- a/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c
+++ b/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c
@@ -350,7 +350,6 @@ ppc64Compute(virCPUDefPtr host,
              const virCPUDef *cpu,
              virCPUDataPtr *guestData,
              char **message)
-
 {
     struct ppc64_map *map = NULL;
     struct ppc64_model *host_model = NULL;
@@ -407,9 +406,7 @@ ppc64Compute(virCPUDefPtr host,
         !(guest_model = ppc64ModelFromCPU(cpu, map)))
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (cpu->type == VIR_CPU_TYPE_GUEST &&
-        cpu->match == VIR_CPU_MATCH_STRICT &&
-        STRNEQ(guest_model->name, host_model->name)) {
+    if (STRNEQ(guest_model->name, host_model->name)) {
         VIR_DEBUG("host CPU model does not match required CPU model %s",
                   guest_model->name);
         if (message &&
diff --git a/tests/cputest.c b/tests/cputest.c
index 93f9d2ec88..1e84fd3efd 100644
--- a/tests/cputest.c
+++ b/tests/cputest.c
@@ -501,7 +501,7 @@ static const char *model486[]   = { "486" };
 static const char *nomodel[]    = { "nomodel" };
 static const char *models[]     = { "qemu64", "core2duo", "Nehalem" };
 static const char *haswell[]    = { "SandyBridge", "Haswell" };
-static const char *ppc_models[]     = { "POWER7", "POWER7_v2.1", "POWER8_v1.0"};
+static const char *ppc_models[] = { "POWER7", "POWER7_v2.1", "POWER7_v2.3", "POWER8_v1.0"};
 
 static int
 mymain(void)
@@ -662,7 +662,7 @@ mymain(void)
                       NULL, "Haswell-noTSX", 0);
 
     DO_TEST_GUESTDATA("ppc64", "host", "guest", ppc_models, NULL, 0);
-    DO_TEST_GUESTDATA("ppc64", "host", "guest-nofallback", ppc_models, "POWER7_v2.1", 0);
+    DO_TEST_GUESTDATA("ppc64", "host", "guest-nofallback", ppc_models, "POWER7_v2.1", -1);
 
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
diff --git a/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-guest.xml b/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-guest.xml
index ac81ec0adc..9e91501002 100644
--- a/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-guest.xml
+++ b/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-guest.xml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 <cpu match='exact'>
-  <model>POWER8_v1.0</model>
+  <model>POWER7_v2.3</model>
   <topology sockets='2' cores='4' threads='1'/>
 </cpu>
diff --git a/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-host+guest,ppc_models-result.xml b/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-host+guest,ppc_models-result.xml
index 0cb0830324..3e55f68f50 100644
--- a/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-host+guest,ppc_models-result.xml
+++ b/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-host+guest,ppc_models-result.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <cpu mode='custom' match='exact'>
   <arch>ppc64</arch>
-  <model fallback='allow'>POWER8_v1.0</model>
+  <model fallback='allow'>POWER7_v2.3</model>
   <vendor>IBM</vendor>
 </cpu>
diff --git a/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-host+guest-nofallback,ppc_models,POWER7_v2.1-result.xml b/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-host+guest-nofallback,ppc_models,POWER7_v2.1-result.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 7e58361712..0000000000
--- a/tests/cputestdata/ppc64-host+guest-nofallback,ppc_models,POWER7_v2.1-result.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-<cpu mode='custom' match='exact'>
-  <arch>ppc64</arch>
-  <model fallback='forbid'>POWER7_v2.1</model>
-  <vendor>IBM</vendor>
-</cpu>