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3.2. Supported CPU Models

Every hypervisor has its own policy for which CPU features the guest will see by default. The set of CPU features presented to the guest by QEMU/KVM depends on the CPU model chosen in the guest virtual machine configuration. qemu32 and qemu64 are basic CPU models but there are other models (with additional features) available.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 supports the use of the following QEMU CPU model definitions: 

<!-- This is only a partial file, only containing the CPU models. The XML file has more information (including supported features per model) which you can see when you open the file yourself -->
<cpus>
  <arch name='x86'>
...

    <!-- Intel-based QEMU generic CPU models -->
    <model name='pentium'>
      <model name='486'/>
     </model>

    <model name='pentium2'>
      <model name='pentium'/>
    </model>

    <model name='pentium3'>
      <model name='pentium2'/>
    </model>

    <model name='pentiumpro'>
    </model>

    <model name='coreduo'>
      <model name='pentiumpro'/>
      <vendor name='Intel'/>
    </model>

    <model name='n270'>
      <model name='coreduo'/>
    </model>

    <model name='core2duo'>
      <model name='n270'/>
    </model>

    <!-- Generic QEMU CPU models -->
    <model name='qemu32'>
      <model name='pentiumpro'/>
    </model>

    <model name='kvm32'>
      <model name='qemu32'/>
    </model>

    <model name='cpu64-rhel5'>
      <model name='kvm32'/>
    </model>

    <model name='cpu64-rhel6'>
      <model name='cpu64-rhel5'/>
    </model>

    <model name='kvm64'>
      <model name='cpu64-rhel5'/>
    </model>

    <model name='qemu64'>
      <model name='kvm64'/>
    </model>

    <!-- Intel CPU models -->
    <model name='Conroe'>
      <model name='pentiumpro'/>
      <vendor name='Intel'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Penryn'>
      <model name='Conroe'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Nehalem'>
      <model name='Penryn'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Westmere'>
      <model name='Nehalem'/>
      <feature name='aes'/>
    </model>

    <model name='SandyBridge'>
      <model name='Westmere'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Haswell'>
      <model name='SandyBridge'/>
    </model>

    <!-- AMD CPUs -->
    <model name='athlon'>
      <model name='pentiumpro'/>
      <vendor name='AMD'/>
     </model>

    <model name='phenom'>
      <model name='cpu64-rhel5'/>
      <vendor name='AMD'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Opteron_G1'>
      <model name='cpu64-rhel5'/>
      <vendor name='AMD'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Opteron_G2'>
      <model name='Opteron_G1'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Opteron_G3'>
      <model name='Opteron_G2'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Opteron_G4'>
      <model name='Opteron_G2'/>
    </model>

    <model name='Opteron_G5'>
      <model name='Opteron_G4'/>
    </model>
  </arch>
</cpus>

Note

A full list of supported CPU models and recognized CPUID flags can also be found using the qemu-kvm -cpu ? command.