Hello
You decide especially if you "roll your own" since these are just kernel module options (examples follow). However if you just take whatever is offered then you decide which most closely resembles your system. If you have no clue what your system is or how to match you can still successfully choose by going with some generic/general kernel.
Here are some CPU choices that can be compiled directly into the kernel and/or loaded as modules on-demand. These are actually easier to understand as options in "make menuconfig" or "make xconfig" but it is easier to copy n paste from the more machine friendly .config file. The actual configuration apps show i586, i686, Celeron II, Pentium IV, etc. entries. This one is an "all supporting" where very few exclusions are written.
Code:
# CONFIG_64BIT is not set
CONFIG_X86_32=y
# CONFIG_X86_64 is not set
CONFIG_X86=y
CONFIG_INSTRUCTION_DECODER=y
CONFIG_OUTPUT_FORMAT="elf32-i386"
CONFIG_ARCH_DEFCONFIG="arch/x86/configs/i386_defconfig"
CONFIG_GENERIC_CMOS_UPDATE=y
CONFIG_CLOCKSOURCE_WATCHDOG=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS_BROADCAST=y
CONFIG_LOCKDEP_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_STACKTRACE_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_HAVE_LATENCYTOP_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_MMU=y
CONFIG_ZONE_DMA=y
CONFIG_NEED_DMA_MAP_STATE=y
CONFIG_NEED_SG_DMA_LENGTH=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_IOMAP=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_BUG=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_HWEIGHT=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_GPIO=y
CONFIG_ARCH_MAY_HAVE_PC_FDC=y
# CONFIG_RWSEM_GENERIC_SPINLOCK is not set
CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y
CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_CPU_IDLE_WAIT=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_CALIBRATE_DELAY=y
# CONFIG_GENERIC_TIME_VSYSCALL is not set
CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_CPU_RELAX=y
CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_DEFAULT_IDLE=y
CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_CACHE_LINE_SIZE=y
CONFIG_HAVE_SETUP_PER_CPU_AREA=y
CONFIG_NEED_PER_CPU_EMBED_FIRST_CHUNK=y
CONFIG_NEED_PER_CPU_PAGE_FIRST_CHUNK=y
CONFIG_ARCH_HIBERNATION_POSSIBLE=y
CONFIG_ARCH_SUSPEND_POSSIBLE=y
# CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32 is not set
CONFIG_ARCH_POPULATES_NODE_MAP=y
# CONFIG_AUDIT_ARCH is not set
CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_OPTIMIZED_INLINING=y
CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC=y
CONFIG_HAVE_INTEL_TXT=y
CONFIG_X86_32_SMP=y
CONFIG_X86_HT=y
