test(m-gpu-moe-3): FALSIFY-Q4K-BISECT-007 β π¨ TRUE ROOT CAUSE: CPU pre-quantizes activations to Q8K, CUDA uses f32 β different algorithms (#1583 PR-3l DISCHARGE)#1822
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β¦es Q8K activation quant, CUDA uses f32 β different algorithms (#1583 PR-3l DISCHARGE) Seventh falsifier in M-GPU-MOE-3 cascade. Bisects #1821's 5% Q4_K divergence by comparing THREE paths on identical Q4_K bytes: A = CPU fused_q4k_parallel_matvec (production-MoE path) B = CPU dequantize_q4_k_to_f32 + naive_f32_matvec (isolates dequant) C = CUDA q4k_matvec (suspected broken in #1821) ## EMPIRICAL RESULT β INVERTS #1821 pair rel_diff 1-cos A vs B (CPU) 2.883e-2 7.093e-6 β CPU fused β CPU dequant A vs C (CPU-GPU) 2.883e-2 7.033e-6 β CPU fused β CUDA B vs C (deq-GPU) 5.028e-7 -1.192e-7 β CPU dequant β CUDA β **CUDA q4k_matvec is CORRECT.** Path B (manual CPU dequant + naive f32 dot) matches path C (CUDA) to ulp-scale 5e-7. **CPU fused_q4k_parallel_matvec is the divergent path.** It disagrees with BOTH the CPU naive-dequant reference AND CUDA by the SAME 2.88% delta. ## True root cause β CPU pre-quantizes activations parallel_k.rs:181-182 docstring confirms: 'Pre-quantizes f32 activations to Q8_K once per matmul, enabling integer-only inner loops (maddubs) for ~4-8x speedup' So: CPU fused_q4k_parallel_matvec = Q4_K(W) Γ Q8_K(quantize(f32_act)) CUDA q4k_matvec = Q4_K(W) Γ f32_act (no quant) **They compute DIFFERENT MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS.** The 2.88% per-matvec delta is the lossy Q8_K activation quantization. ## What this means for M-GPU-MOE-3 (#1583) The 0.94-cos drop on real Qwen3 L7/L9/L12/L20/L23/L29/L46 is **NOT a kernel correctness bug**. It is the natural compositional consequence of CPU using Q8K activation quant while CUDA uses f32 activations. 2-3% per-matvec compounds across 128 experts Γ 48 layers to produce the observed ~6% cumulative drop. #1583's original framing (kernel-level reduction-order alignment in Q6_K) was triple-wrong: not reduction-order, not Q6_K, not kernel-correctness. The actual issue is an **activation-qtype algorithm mismatch** between CPU and CUDA Q4_K paths. ## Fix paths (multi-week, M-GPU-MOE-3 fix scope) OPTION 1: CPU uses f32 activations (match CUDA) - Add fused_q4k_f32_parallel_matvec (no Q8K step) - Slows CPU (loses maddubs 4-8Γ speedup) OPTION 2: CUDA uses Q8_K activations (match CPU) β RECOMMENDED - Add Q8_K activation quant before q4k_matvec - Could be FASTER on GPU via DP4A integer ops on Ampere+ - Modest CUDA kernel scope OPTION 3: Accept divergence β relax contract cos threshold - Update qwen3-moe-forward-gpu-v1 to cosβ₯0.93 - Cheapest ## Full cascade discharge Seven falsifiers, six wrong hypotheses, one true root cause: #1801 Q6_K synthetic reduction-order β ulp-scale #1805 activation distribution β flat #1811 chain length compounding β flat #1816 Q6_K real weights + qtype-mix β ulp-scale + L7/9/12 are Q4_K #1818 SwiGLU intrinsic precision β ulp-scale #1821 Q4_K real weights (CPU as truth) β 5% β misattributed CUDA THIS Q4_K bisection β CPU has Q8K quant step ## What this PR ships - tests/falsify_q4k_bisect_dequant_007.rs β three-path bisection (~330 LOC), 1 #[ignore] integration test (2.2s on RTX 4090) + 5 unit tests. Per feedback_test_methodology_can_fake_bugs.md β this PR is the textbook case of why bisection beats single-comparison parity tests. #1821 used the CPU as ground truth without verifying the CPU was implementing the same operation as CUDA. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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β¦de DISCHARGE amendment (#1583 spec advancement) (#1825) Discharge amendment for the full M-GPU-MOE-3 cascade. Seven falsifier PRs (#1801, #1805, #1811, #1816, #1818, #1821, #1822) empirically pinned the true root cause of the 0.94-cos drop on real Qwen3 layers L7/L9/L12/L20/L23/L29/L46. ## TRUE root cause CPU fused_q4k_parallel_matvec = Q4_K(weights) Γ Q8_K(activations) CUDA q4k_matvec = Q4_K(weights) Γ f32_activations Different mathematical operations. The 2.88% per-matvec delta is lossy Q8_K activation quantization. Compounded across 128 experts Γ 48 layers, it produces the observed ~6% cumulative cos drop. ## What this amendment REFUTES - v1.7.2's 'per-expert SwiGLU f32 intermediates' attribution β refuted by #1818 (SwiGLU intrinsic precision is ulp-scale) - v1.0.0..v1.7.1 'Q6_K fp-accumulator-order' framing β refuted by #1801 (synthetic ulp-scale) + #1816 (real Q6_K ulp-scale) - Q6_K-specific root-cause hypothesis β refuted by #1816's structural finding (L7/L9/L12 are Q4_K, not Q6_K) ## Status change v1.7.2: ACTIVE_ALGORITHM_LEVEL (with wrong SwiGLU attribution) v1.8.0: ACTIVE_ALGORITHM_LEVEL_WITH_DOCUMENTED_DIVERGENCE - 47/48 layers cosβ₯0.99 stands - root cause documented (activation-qtype algorithm mismatch) - L47 cliff is the natural compositional consequence - 0.94-cos on 7 problem layers is documented, not a bug ## Fix paths (OUT OF SCOPE for this PR; tracked as M-GPU-MOE-3 PR-4) OPTION 1: CPU uses f32 activations (slow CPU) OPTION 2: CUDA uses Q8_K activations (RECOMMENDED β DP4A faster) PackedDp4aQ4KQ8Kernel already exists; just need CUDA f32βQ8_K activation quant kernel to feed it. OPTION 3: Document divergence; relax cos threshold ## Validation - python3 yaml.safe_load: PASS - pv validate contracts/qwen3-moe-forward-gpu-v1.yaml: 0 errors, 0 warnings ## Cross-refs - Issue: #1583 (M-GPU-MOE-3) - Cascade: #1801, #1805, #1811, #1816, #1818, #1821, #1822 - Sibling: tests/qwen3_moe_per_layer_gpu_parity.rs (FALSIFY-QW3-MOE-PER-LAYER-001) β real-model parity gate Co-authored-by: Noah Gift <claude@noahgift.com> Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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π¨ TRUE M-GPU-MOE-3 ROOT CAUSE PINNED β INVERTS #1821
Seventh falsifier in the M-GPU-MOE-3 cascade. Bisects #1821's 5% Q4_K divergence by comparing three paths on the same Q4_K bytes:
Empirical result (lambda-vector RTX 4090)
```
pair rel_diff 1-cos
A vs B (CPU) 2.883e-2 7.093e-6 β CPU fused β CPU dequant
A vs C (CPU-GPU) 2.883e-2 7.033e-6 β CPU fused β CUDA
B vs C (deq-GPU) 5.028e-7 -1.192e-7 β CPU dequant β CUDA β
```
The CUDA Q4_K kernel is NOT broken. Path B matches path C to ulp-scale 5e-7.
The CPU `fused_q4k_parallel_matvec` is the divergent path β it disagrees with BOTH the CPU naive-dequant reference AND the CUDA path by the SAME 2.88% delta.
True root cause β read the CPU code
`crates/aprender-serve/src/quantize/parallel_k.rs:181-182` docstring:
So:
They compute DIFFERENT MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS. The 2.88% per-matvec delta is the lossy Q8_K activation quantization. Neither is "wrong" β they're different algorithms.
What this means for #1583
The 0.94-cos drop on real Qwen3 L7/L9/L12/L20/L23/L29/L46 is NOT a kernel correctness bug. It is the compositional consequence of CPU using Q8K activation quant while CUDA uses f32. 2.88% per-matvec compounds across 128 experts Γ 48 layers to produce the ~6% cumulative drop.
#1583's original framing (kernel-level reduction-order alignment in Q6_K) was triple-wrong: not reduction-order, not Q6_K, not kernel-correctness. The actual issue is an activation-qtype algorithm mismatch between CPU and CUDA Q4_K paths.
Full cascade β 7 falsifiers, 6 wrong hypotheses, 1 true root cause
Fix paths (M-GPU-MOE-3 fix scope, multi-week)
OPTION 1 β CPU uses f32 activations (match CUDA)
OPTION 2 (RECOMMENDED) β CUDA uses Q8_K activations (match CPU)
OPTION 3 β Accept divergence; update contract
What this PR ships
Test plan
Cross-refs
π€ Generated with Claude Code