diff --git a/src/query/settings/src/lib.rs b/src/query/settings/src/lib.rs
index 6576d6cc31bfd..b3e9a9c2f0f0c 100644
--- a/src/query/settings/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/query/settings/src/lib.rs
@@ -136,7 +136,11 @@ impl Settings {
             default_max_memory_usage = conf.query.max_server_memory_usage;
         }
 
-        let default_max_storage_io_requests = if conf.storage.params.is_fs() { 48 } else { 64 };
+        let default_max_storage_io_requests = if conf.storage.params.is_fs() {
+            48
+        } else {
+            std::cmp::min(num_cpus, 64)
+        };
 
         let values = vec![
             // max_block_size