diff --git a/tools/power/x86/turbostat/turbostat.c b/tools/power/x86/turbostat/turbostat.c
index 9018e47e0bc2..a674500e7e63 100644
--- a/tools/power/x86/turbostat/turbostat.c
+++ b/tools/power/x86/turbostat/turbostat.c
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@
 #define	NAME_BYTES 20
 #define PATH_BYTES 128
 
+#define MAX_NOFILE 0x8000
+
 enum counter_scope { SCOPE_CPU, SCOPE_CORE, SCOPE_PACKAGE };
 enum counter_type { COUNTER_ITEMS, COUNTER_CYCLES, COUNTER_SECONDS, COUNTER_USEC };
 enum counter_format { FORMAT_RAW, FORMAT_DELTA, FORMAT_PERCENT };
@@ -6719,6 +6721,22 @@ void cmdline(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 }
 
+void set_rlimit(void)
+{
+	struct rlimit limit;
+
+	if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit) < 0)
+		err(1, "Failed to get rlimit");
+
+	if (limit.rlim_max < MAX_NOFILE)
+		limit.rlim_max = MAX_NOFILE;
+	if (limit.rlim_cur < MAX_NOFILE)
+		limit.rlim_cur = MAX_NOFILE;
+
+	if (setrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit) < 0)
+		err(1, "Failed to set rlimit");
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	outf = stderr;
@@ -6731,6 +6749,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 	probe_sysfs();
 
+	if (!getuid())
+		set_rlimit();
+
 	turbostat_init();
 
 	msr_sum_record();