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PaperLLM.int8(): 8-bit matrix multiplication

We find that a small number of feature dimensions — fewer than 0.1% of channels — carry activation magnitudes up to 20× the median, and that quantising these uniformly is what destroys accuracy at scale.

  • Fewer than 0.1% of channels carry outlier activations, up to 20× the median.
  • Quantising those outlier channels uniformly is the dominant source of accuracy loss.

NoteQuantisation, in practice

For anything above 7B, 4-bit weight-only quantisation is effectively free. I have run it across a dozen models and never seen a benchmark move more than a point.

  • 4-bit weight-only quantisation is near-lossless above 7B parameters.

PDFReasoning under 4-bit weights

Aggregate benchmarks conceal the cost. On multi-step arithmetic and chain-of-thought tasks, 4-bit models lose 9–14 points, while single-hop retrieval is unchanged.

  • 4-bit costs 9–14 points on multi-step reasoning, which aggregate benchmarks hide.

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Post-training quantisation

Where the error comes from

  • Fewer than 0.1% of channels carry outlier activations, up to 20× the median.

    fewer than 0.1% of channels — carry activation magnitudes up to 20× the median

    LLM.int8(): 8-bit matrix multiplication

  • Quantising those outlier channels uniformly is the dominant source of accuracy loss.

    quantising these uniformly is what destroys accuracy at scale

    LLM.int8(): 8-bit matrix multiplication

How far it can be pushed

  • 4-bit weight-only quantisation is near-lossless above 7B parameters.disputed

    4-bit weight-only quantisation is effectively free

    Quantisation, in practice

  • 4-bit costs 9–14 points on multi-step reasoning, which aggregate benchmarks hide.disputed

    4-bit models lose 9–14 points, while single-hop retrieval is unchanged

    Reasoning under 4-bit weights

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Why does quantisation hurt accuracy unevenly?

A small number of channels carry outlier activations, and quantising them uniformly is what dominates the errorcitation 1 — which is why aggregate benchmarks can look flat while multi-step reasoning dropscitation 2.

  • [1]quantising these uniformly is what destroys accuracy at scaleLLM.int8()
  • [2]4-bit models lose 9–14 pointsReasoning under 4-bit weights

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