diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cc27b2b85..429365228 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,9 +40,46 @@ option(CITRA_USE_BUNDLED_SDL2 "Download bundled SDL2 binaries" OFF)
 option(ENABLE_QT "Enable the Qt frontend" ON)
 option(CITRA_USE_BUNDLED_QT "Download bundled Qt binaries" OFF)
 
-# uses O3 instead of O2
+# uses full optimization on compilers
 option(ENABLE_HIGH_OP "Enable highest optimizations possible" OFF)
 
+set(CPU_TARGET "base" CACHE STRING "CPU minimum for this build, use base as default")
+set(CPU_TYPES "base;pentium4;haswell;skylake;modern")
+set_property(CACHE CPU_TARGET PROPERTY STRINGS ${CPU_TYPES})
+
+set(CC_OP_LEVEL "")
+set(CC_EXTRA "")
+set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "")
+if (MSVC)
+  set(CC_OP_LEVEL "/O2")
+  if (ENABLE_HIGH_OP)
+    # /GL - produces global unified optimizations instead of module-based
+    set(CC_OP_LEVEL "/Ox /GL /Gw")
+  endif()
+  if (CPU_TARGET MATCHES "base")
+    set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "/arch:SSE2")
+  else()
+    set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "/arch:SSE2 /arch:AVX2")
+  endif()
+elseif (MINGW)
+  set(CC_EXTRA "${CC_EXTRA} -pthread")
+  set(CC_OP_LEVEL "-O2")
+  if (ENABLE_HIGH_OP)
+    set(CC_OP_LEVEL "-O3")
+  endif()
+  if (CPU_TARGET MATCHES "skylake")
+    set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "-march=skylake -maccumulate-outgoing-args")
+  elseif (CPU_TARGET MATCHES "modern")
+    set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "-mmmx -mmovbe -msse3 -msse4 -mavx -mavx2 -mbmi -mbmi2 -mf16c -maccumulate-outgoing-args")
+  elseif (CPU_TARGET MATCHES "pentium4")
+    set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "-march=pentium4")
+  elseif (CPU_TARGET MATCHES "haswell")
+    set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "-march=haswell -maccumulate-outgoing-args")
+  else ()
+    set(CC_CPU_FLAGS "-mmmx -msse -msse2")
+  endif()
+endif()
+
 if(NOT EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/.git/hooks/pre-commit)
     message(STATUS "Copying pre-commit hook")
     file(COPY hooks/pre-commit
@@ -68,9 +105,11 @@ message(STATUS "Target architecture: ${ARCHITECTURE}")
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 
+set(COMP_FLAGS "${CC_OP_LEVEL} ${CC_CPU_FLAGS} ${CC_EXTRA}")
+
 if (NOT MSVC)
-    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-attributes")
-    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS}")
+    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${COMP_FLAGS} -Wno-attributes")
+    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} ${COMP_FLAGS}")
 
     if (MINGW)
         add_definitions(-DMINGW_HAS_SECURE_API)
@@ -110,14 +149,9 @@ else()
     set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_DEBUG   "/Od /MDd" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_DEBUG}" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
 
-    set(OP_LEVEL "/O2")
-    if (ENABLE_HIGH_OP)
-      set(OP_LEVEL "/O3")
-
-    # /O2 - Optimization level 2
     # /GS- - No stack buffer overflow checks
     # /MD - Multi-threaded runtime DLL
-    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE   "${OP_LEVEL} /GS- /MD" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
+    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE   "${COMP_FLAGS} /GS- /MD" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
 
     set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_DEBUG   "/DEBUG" CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
@@ -157,7 +191,6 @@ list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/externals/cmake-modules")
 
 find_package(OpenGL REQUIRED)
 include_directories(${OPENGL_INCLUDE_DIR})
-
 # Prefer the -pthread flag on Linux.
 set (THREADS_PREFER_PTHREAD_FLAG ON)
 find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
@@ -212,6 +245,8 @@ if (UNIX OR MINGW)
     endif()
 endif()
 
+message(STATUS "Compiler Flags: ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
+
 if (ENABLE_QT)
     if (CITRA_USE_BUNDLED_QT)
         if (MSVC14 AND ARCHITECTURE_x86_64)