diff --git a/numexpr/tests/test_numexpr.py b/numexpr/tests/test_numexpr.py
index bb5b177..82e702b 100644
--- a/numexpr/tests/test_numexpr.py
+++ b/numexpr/tests/test_numexpr.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 
 double = np.double
 long = int
+MAX_THREADS = 8
 
 
 class test_numexpr(TestCase):
@@ -1164,14 +1165,14 @@ def test_omp_num_threads_empty_string(self):
             if 'sparc' in platform.machine():
                 self.assertEqual(1, numexpr._init_num_threads())
             else:
-                self.assertEqual(detect_number_of_cores(), numexpr._init_num_threads())
+                self.assertEqual(min(detect_number_of_cores(), MAX_THREADS), numexpr._init_num_threads())
 
     def test_numexpr_max_threads_empty_string(self):
         with _environment('NUMEXPR_MAX_THREADS', ''):
             if 'sparc' in platform.machine():
                 self.assertEqual(1, numexpr._init_num_threads())
             else:
-                self.assertEqual(detect_number_of_cores(), numexpr._init_num_threads())
+                self.assertEqual(min(detect_number_of_cores(), MAX_THREADS), numexpr._init_num_threads())
 
     def test_vml_threads_round_trip(self):
         n_threads = 3