diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index aadfaddc17..96bc7aadeb 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -336,6 +336,12 @@ testAddCPUModels(virQEMUCaps *caps, bool skipLegacy)
     return 0;
 }
 
+static void
+testUpdateQEMUCapsHostCPUModel(virQEMUCaps *qemuCaps, virArch hostArch)
+{
+    virQEMUCapsUpdateHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
+    virQEMUCapsUpdateHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU);
+}
 
 static int
 testUpdateQEMUCaps(const struct testQemuInfo *info,
@@ -353,10 +359,7 @@ testUpdateQEMUCaps(const struct testQemuInfo *info,
                          !!(info->flags & FLAG_SKIP_LEGACY_CPUS)) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    virQEMUCapsUpdateHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, caps->host.arch,
-                                  VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
-    virQEMUCapsUpdateHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, caps->host.arch,
-                                  VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU);
+    testUpdateQEMUCapsHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, caps->host.arch);
 
     return 0;
 }
@@ -650,6 +653,13 @@ testCompareXMLToArgv(const void *data)
     if (info->arch != VIR_ARCH_NONE && info->arch != VIR_ARCH_X86_64)
         qemuTestSetHostArch(&driver, info->arch);
 
+    if (info->args.capsHostCPUModel) {
+        virCPUDef *hostCPUModel = qemuTestGetCPUDef(info->args.capsHostCPUModel);
+
+        qemuTestSetHostCPU(&driver, driver.hostarch, hostCPUModel);
+        testUpdateQEMUCapsHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, driver.hostarch);
+    }
+
     if (!(conn = virGetConnect()))
         goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index 004c7cf1d6..7e4e5d28b7 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -886,6 +886,10 @@ testQemuInfoSetArgs(struct testQemuInfo *info,
             info->args.capsver = va_arg(argptr, char *);
             break;
 
+        case ARG_CAPS_HOST_CPU_MODEL:
+            info->args.capsHostCPUModel = va_arg(argptr, int);
+            break;
+
         case ARG_HOST_OS:
             info->args.hostOS = va_arg(argptr, int);
             break;
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.h b/tests/testutilsqemu.h
index 99897e6b79..5419b813ea 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.h
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.h
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ typedef enum {
     ARG_PARSEFLAGS,
     ARG_CAPS_ARCH,
     ARG_CAPS_VER,
+    ARG_CAPS_HOST_CPU_MODEL,
     ARG_HOST_OS,
     ARG_END,
 } testQemuInfoArgName;
@@ -66,12 +67,20 @@ struct testQemuConf {
     GHashTable *qapiSchemaCache;
 };
 
+typedef enum {
+    QEMU_CPU_DEF_DEFAULT,
+    QEMU_CPU_DEF_HASWELL,
+    QEMU_CPU_DEF_POWER8,
+    QEMU_CPU_DEF_POWER9,
+} qemuTestCPUDef;
+
 struct testQemuArgs {
     bool newargs;
     virQEMUCaps *fakeCaps;
     bool fakeCapsUsed;
     char *capsver;
     char *capsarch;
+    qemuTestCPUDef capsHostCPUModel;
     int gic;
     testQemuHostOS hostOS;
     bool invalidarg;
@@ -101,15 +110,6 @@ virDomainXMLOption *testQemuXMLConfInit(void);
 
 virQEMUCaps *qemuTestParseCapabilitiesArch(virArch arch,
                                              const char *capsFile);
-
-
-typedef enum {
-    QEMU_CPU_DEF_DEFAULT,
-    QEMU_CPU_DEF_HASWELL,
-    QEMU_CPU_DEF_POWER8,
-    QEMU_CPU_DEF_POWER9,
-} qemuTestCPUDef;
-
 virCPUDef *qemuTestGetCPUDef(qemuTestCPUDef d);
 
 void qemuTestSetHostArch(virQEMUDriver *driver,