diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index c4e3573de3..de239df6b8 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ std::string HelpMessage(HelpMessageMode mode)
     strUsage += HelpMessageOpt("-loadblock=<file>", _("Imports blocks from external blk000??.dat file") + " " + _("on startup"));
     strUsage += HelpMessageOpt("-maxorphantx=<n>", strprintf(_("Keep at most <n> unconnectable transactions in memory (default: %u)"), DEFAULT_MAX_ORPHAN_TRANSACTIONS));
     strUsage += HelpMessageOpt("-par=<n>", strprintf(_("Set the number of script verification threads (%u to %d, 0 = auto, <0 = leave that many cores free, default: %d)"),
-        -(int)boost::thread::hardware_concurrency(), MAX_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS, DEFAULT_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS));
+        -GetNumCores(), MAX_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS, DEFAULT_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS));
 #ifndef WIN32
     strUsage += HelpMessageOpt("-pid=<file>", strprintf(_("Specify pid file (default: %s)"), "bitcoind.pid"));
 #endif
@@ -774,7 +774,7 @@ bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup, CScheduler& scheduler)
     // -par=0 means autodetect, but nScriptCheckThreads==0 means no concurrency
     nScriptCheckThreads = GetArg("-par", DEFAULT_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS);
     if (nScriptCheckThreads <= 0)
-        nScriptCheckThreads += boost::thread::hardware_concurrency();
+        nScriptCheckThreads += GetNumCores();
     if (nScriptCheckThreads <= 1)
         nScriptCheckThreads = 0;
     else if (nScriptCheckThreads > MAX_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS)
diff --git a/src/miner.cpp b/src/miner.cpp
index f5919ca3af..57af2981dd 100644
--- a/src/miner.cpp
+++ b/src/miner.cpp
@@ -560,7 +560,7 @@ void GenerateBitcoins(bool fGenerate, CWallet* pwallet, int nThreads)
         if (Params().DefaultMinerThreads())
             nThreads = Params().DefaultMinerThreads();
         else
-            nThreads = boost::thread::hardware_concurrency();
+            nThreads = GetNumCores();
     }
 
     if (minerThreads != NULL)
diff --git a/src/qt/optionsdialog.cpp b/src/qt/optionsdialog.cpp
index efb2bf4158..87c727335e 100644
--- a/src/qt/optionsdialog.cpp
+++ b/src/qt/optionsdialog.cpp
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ OptionsDialog::OptionsDialog(QWidget *parent, bool enableWallet) :
     /* Main elements init */
     ui->databaseCache->setMinimum(nMinDbCache);
     ui->databaseCache->setMaximum(nMaxDbCache);
-    ui->threadsScriptVerif->setMinimum(-(int)boost::thread::hardware_concurrency());
+    ui->threadsScriptVerif->setMinimum(-GetNumCores());
     ui->threadsScriptVerif->setMaximum(MAX_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS);
 
     /* Network elements init */
diff --git a/src/util.cpp b/src/util.cpp
index da5821e530..bb7df23205 100644
--- a/src/util.cpp
+++ b/src/util.cpp
@@ -756,3 +756,13 @@ void SetThreadPriority(int nPriority)
 #endif // PRIO_THREAD
 #endif // WIN32
 }
+
+int GetNumCores()
+{
+#if BOOST_VERSION >= 105600
+    return boost::thread::physical_concurrency();
+#else // Must fall back to hardware_concurrency, which unfortunately counts virtual cores
+    return boost::thread::hardware_concurrency();
+#endif
+}
+
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index 6ec81698ea..6019e25015 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -199,6 +199,13 @@ std::string HelpMessageGroup(const std::string& message);
  */
 std::string HelpMessageOpt(const std::string& option, const std::string& message);
 
+/**
+ * Return the number of physical cores available on the current system.
+ * @note This does not count virtual cores, such as those provided by HyperThreading
+ * when boost is newer than 1.56.
+ */
+int GetNumCores();
+
 void SetThreadPriority(int nPriority);
 void RenameThread(const char* name);