CONFIG_HW_PERF_EVENTS is not available for thedefaultarchitecture x86.
Result is shown for architecture mips

Enable hardware performance counter support for perf events

modulename: perf_event_mipsxx.ko

and/or

perf_event_xscale.ko

configname: CONFIG_HW_PERF_EVENTS

Linux Kernel Configuration
└─>Kernel type
└─>Enable hardware performance counter support for perf events
In linux kernel since version 2.6.34 (release Date: 2010-05-16)  
Enable hardware performance counter support for perf events. If
disabled, perf events will use software events only.

source code:
arch/mips/kernel/perf_event_mipsxx.c