diff --git a/dbms/src/Interpreters/SystemLog.cpp b/dbms/src/Interpreters/SystemLog.cpp
index 6eb0ce69f4e..d347488ea50 100644
--- a/dbms/src/Interpreters/SystemLog.cpp
+++ b/dbms/src/Interpreters/SystemLog.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@
 namespace DB
 {
 
+namespace ErrorCodes
+{
+    extern const int BAD_ARGUMENTS;
+}
+
 namespace
 {
 
@@ -31,8 +36,19 @@ std::shared_ptr<TSystemLog> createSystemLog(
 
     String database = config.getString(config_prefix + ".database", default_database_name);
     String table = config.getString(config_prefix + ".table", default_table_name);
-    String partition_by = config.getString(config_prefix + ".partition_by", "toYYYYMM(event_date)");
-    String engine = "ENGINE = MergeTree PARTITION BY (" + partition_by + ") ORDER BY (event_date, event_time)";
+
+    String engine;
+    if (config.has(config_prefix + ".engine"))
+    {
+        if (config.has(config_prefix + ".partition_by"))
+            throw Exception("If 'engine' is specified for system table, PARTITION BY parameters should be specified directly inside 'engine' and 'partition_by' setting doesn't make sense", ErrorCodes::BAD_ARGUMENTS);
+        engine = config.getString(config_prefix + ".engine");
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        String partition_by = config.getString(config_prefix + ".partition_by", "toYYYYMM(event_date)");
+        engine = "ENGINE = MergeTree PARTITION BY (" + partition_by + ") ORDER BY (event_date, event_time) SETTINGS index_granularity = 1024";
+    }
 
     size_t flush_interval_milliseconds = config.getUInt64(config_prefix + ".flush_interval_milliseconds", DEFAULT_SYSTEM_LOG_FLUSH_INTERVAL_MILLISECONDS);