diff --git a/sched/plan_class_spec.cpp b/sched/plan_class_spec.cpp
index c3909cbc6d..714255bf13 100644
--- a/sched/plan_class_spec.cpp
+++ b/sched/plan_class_spec.cpp
@@ -915,17 +915,11 @@ bool PLAN_CLASS_SPEC::check(
             hu.avg_ncpus = avg_ncpus;
         } else {
             if (can_use_multicore) {
-	        hu.avg_ncpus = max_threads;
-		// Limits the number of threads to the number of CPUs
                 if (max_threads > g_wreq->effective_ncpus) {
                     hu.avg_ncpus = g_wreq->effective_ncpus;
-                }                
-		// Limits the number of threads to the max_cpus volunteer's project preference
-		if (g_wreq->project_prefs.max_cpus) {
-		    if (hu.avg_ncpus > g_wreq->project_prefs.max_cpus) {
-		        hu.avg_ncpus = g_wreq->project_prefs.max_cpus;
-		    }
-		}
+                } else {
+                    hu.avg_ncpus = max_threads;
+                }
 
                 // if per-CPU mem usage given
                 //
diff --git a/sched/sched_send.cpp b/sched/sched_send.cpp
index 409ced7406..1974e3b8eb 100644
--- a/sched/sched_send.cpp
+++ b/sched/sched_send.cpp
@@ -145,6 +145,11 @@ void WORK_REQ::get_job_limits() {
     if (n > config.max_ncpus) n = config.max_ncpus;
     if (n < 1) n = 1;
     if (n > MAX_CPUS) n = MAX_CPUS;
+    if (project_prefs.max_cpus) {
+        if (n > project_prefs.max_cpus) {
+            n = project_prefs.max_cpus;
+        }
+    }
     ninstances[PROC_TYPE_CPU] = n;
     effective_ncpus = n;