docs: KI-1 re-diagnosed in v3 — larger batch does NOT fix DDP weak scaling
v3 tested the documented mitigation (raise global_batch to amortize the per-step all-reduce). Isolated back-to-back A/B on 4× RTX 5090, dim384/12L, seq256: global_batch 32 (8/rank) → 3163 tok/s global_batch 256 (64/rank)→ 3200 tok/s (8× batch, +1.2%, within noise) 8× larger batch = 1/8 the all-reduces per token, yet no speedup → all-reduce is NOT the bottleneck. GPU util 0–15%, mem ~2–3 GB/32 GB → the workload is launch-bound: the single-sequence model design (each sequence its own tiny forward/backward, per-op kernel launches) starves the GPU, and batching only adds proportionally more serial launches. Real fix is batched (multi-sequence) forward so GEMMs fill the GPU — a T4/T5 autograd/model change, not a batch knob. Bucketed/overlapped all-reduce stays deferred (no value until launch-bound is fixed). KI-1 kept Open with the corrected root cause. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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## Open
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### KI-1 · DDP 弱扩展性(small global batch)— `P1` · 由 v2 暴露
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- **现象**:4 卡 DDP 仅 ~3593 tok/s,几乎不快于 v1 单卡 ~3310 tok/s(≈1.08×,远低于近线性;T8 在 tiny 规模为 3.0×@4)。
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- **复现**:v2 训练 `dim384/12L, world=4, global_batch=32(每卡 8), seq 256`。
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- **根因**:每个 step 对**全部参数梯度**做一次 NCCL all-reduce 是固定开销;`global_batch` 太小 → 每卡 compute 太少 → 通信/同步开销占比过高,吃掉扩展性。
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- **拟修复**:
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1. 显著加大 `global_batch`(每卡 batch ↑:摊薄 all-reduce、喂饱 GPU)—— v3 先用此缓解;
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2. 梯度 all-reduce **分桶 + 与 backward 重叠**(bucketed / overlapped all-reduce);
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3. 减少 per-step 同步点(与 KI-2/KI 性能项协同)。
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### KI-1 · DDP 弱扩展性(吞吐受单序列 launch-bound 限制)— `P1` · 由 v2 暴露,v3 重新诊断
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- **现象**:4 卡 DDP 仅 ~3.2K tok/s,几乎不快于单卡(≈2× over 单卡,远低于近线性;T8 在 tiny micro-bench 为 3.0×@4)。
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- **复现**:`dim384/12L, world=4, seq 256`。
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- **v3 实测(dash5, 4× RTX 5090, dim384, 隔离 back-to-back A/B)**:
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| global_batch | 每卡 | tok/s(4卡)| GPU util | 显存 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 32 | 8 | **3163** | 5–69%(spiky)| ~2–3 GB / 32 GB |
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| 256 | 64 | **3200** | 0–15% | ~2–3 GB / 32 GB |
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→ **加大 8× batch 仅 +1.2% 吞吐(噪声内)**。1 卡 dim384 ≈ 1653 tok/s,4 卡 3163 ≈ 2.1×。
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- **原"拟修复"(加大 global batch)经 v3 实测 falsified**:gbatch256 时每 token 的 all-reduce 次数只有 gbatch32 的 1/8,若瓶颈是 all-reduce 应大幅提速——实际没有 → **all-reduce / 通信不是瓶颈**。
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- **重新诊断的根因**:瓶颈是**单序列模型设计**(T5:每个 sequence 各跑一次独立 forward/backward,逐 op kernel-launch 开销,见 docs/06 延迟瓶颈)。GPU util 仅 0–15%、显存仅占 ~8% → 严重 **launch-bound / under-utilized**;GEMM 太小喂不饱 GPU。加大 batch 只是按比例增加串行 launch 次数,无法摊薄。4 卡相对单卡 ~2× 的固定天花板来自跨 rank 同步税,但**不是**靠调 batch 能修的。
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- **真正的修复(需实作,非调参)**:
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1. **batched(多序列)forward**——把一个 step 的多条序列在 batch 维一次性过模型,让 GEMM 大到能填满 GPU(这是 launch-bound 的根本解,但要改 T4/T5 的 single-sequence autograd/model,工作量大、有正确性风险);
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2. 在 (1) 之后,梯度 all-reduce **分桶 + 与 backward 重叠**(bucketed / overlapped all-reduce)才会有意义(当前 all-reduce 已非瓶颈,做了也无收益)。
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- **参考**:[docs/07-distributed.md](07-distributed.md)、[docs/06-performance.md](06-performance.md)。
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---
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