diff -r 2eda90444a0d -r e8225dc7c94b src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Tue Feb 25 13:52:37 2014 +0100
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Wed Mar 05 10:20:30 2014 +0100
@@ -2463,7 +2463,7 @@
 #endif
 
   // TieredCompilation needs at least 2 compiler threads.
-  const int num_min_compiler_threads = (TieredCompilation) ? 2 : 1;
+  const int num_min_compiler_threads = (TieredCompilation && (TieredStopAtLevel >= CompLevel_full_optimization)) ? 2 : 1;
   status &=verify_min_value(CICompilerCount, num_min_compiler_threads, "CICompilerCount");
 
   return status;