diff --git a/numpy/core/include/numpy/npy_common.h b/numpy/core/include/numpy/npy_common.h
index 11a988163ad5..bd221547f66d 100644
--- a/numpy/core/include/numpy/npy_common.h
+++ b/numpy/core/include/numpy/npy_common.h
@@ -29,12 +29,12 @@
 #endif
 
 /* compile target attributes */
-#ifdef HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_TARGET_AVX
+#if defined HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_TARGET_AVX && defined HAVE_LINK_AVX
 #define NPY_GCC_TARGET_AVX __attribute__((target("avx")))
 #else
 #define NPY_GCC_TARGET_AVX
 #endif
-#ifdef HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_TARGET_AVX2
+#if defined HAVE_ATTRIBUTE_TARGET_AVX2 && defined HAVE_LINK_AVX2
 #define NPY_GCC_TARGET_AVX2 __attribute__((target("avx2")))
 #else
 #define NPY_GCC_TARGET_AVX2
diff --git a/numpy/core/setup.py b/numpy/core/setup.py
index 0b055dba460d..07c8478cd930 100644
--- a/numpy/core/setup.py
+++ b/numpy/core/setup.py
@@ -152,12 +152,14 @@ def check_funcs(funcs_name):
     for tup in OPTIONAL_INTRINSICS:
         headers = None
         if len(tup) == 2:
-            f, args = tup
+            f, args, m = tup[0], tup[1], fname2def(tup[0])
+        elif len(tup) == 3:
+            f, args, headers, m = tup[0], tup[1], [tup[2]], fname2def(tup[0])
         else:
-            f, args, headers = tup[0], tup[1], [tup[2]]
+            f, args, headers, m = tup[0], tup[1], [tup[2]], fname2def(tup[3])
         if config.check_func(f, decl=False, call=True, call_args=args,
                              headers=headers):
-            moredefs.append((fname2def(f), 1))
+            moredefs.append((m, 1))
 
     for dec, fn in OPTIONAL_FUNCTION_ATTRIBUTES:
         if config.check_gcc_function_attribute(dec, fn):
diff --git a/numpy/core/setup_common.py b/numpy/core/setup_common.py
index cc2047b45bbe..a97b02645827 100644
--- a/numpy/core/setup_common.py
+++ b/numpy/core/setup_common.py
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def check_api_version(apiversion, codegen_dir):
 ]
 
 # optional gcc compiler builtins and their call arguments and optional a
-# required header
+# required header and definition name (HAVE_ prepended)
 # call arguments are required as the compiler will do strict signature checking
 OPTIONAL_INTRINSICS = [("__builtin_isnan", '5.'),
                        ("__builtin_isinf", '5.'),
@@ -125,12 +125,19 @@ def check_api_version(apiversion, codegen_dir):
                        ("__builtin_bswap64", '5u'),
                        ("__builtin_expect", '5, 0'),
                        ("__builtin_mul_overflow", '5, 5, (int*)5'),
-                       ("__builtin_cpu_supports", '"sse"'),
+                       # broken on OSX 10.11, make sure its not optimized away
+                       ("volatile int r = __builtin_cpu_supports", '"sse"',
+                        "stdio.h", "__BUILTIN_CPU_SUPPORTS"),
                        ("_mm_load_ps", '(float*)0', "xmmintrin.h"),  # SSE
                        ("_mm_prefetch", '(float*)0, _MM_HINT_NTA',
                         "xmmintrin.h"),  # SSE
                        ("_mm_load_pd", '(double*)0', "emmintrin.h"),  # SSE2
                        ("__builtin_prefetch", "(float*)0, 0, 3"),
+                       # check that the linker can handle avx
+                       ("__asm__ volatile", '"vpand %xmm1, %xmm2, %xmm3"',
+                        "stdio.h", "LINK_AVX"),
+                       ("__asm__ volatile", '"vpand %ymm1, %ymm2, %ymm3"',
+                        "stdio.h", "LINK_AVX2"),
                        ]
 
 # function attributes