Towards Easier-to-Tune Training Algorithms: New Results from AlgoPerf

Priya Kasimbeg, Ahmed Khaled, Aahlad Chandrabhatta, Yifan Wang, Andy Liu +7

Evaluating deep learning optimizer is challenging because confounding factors such as hyperparameter tuning and optimizer-model co-design often obscure true algorithmic performance. We present results of the updated AlgoPerf V1 benchmark, in which we evaluate a new set of training algorithms on wall-clock time-to-target across nine workloads on fixed hardware. This report focuses on the results of the benchmark's self-tuning ruleset, which requires submissions to use a single configuration across all workloads. Out of the 13 submissions in PyTorch and JAX, Schedule-Free AdamW ranked first. In addition to the wall-clock scores, we also analyze the trade-offs between step efficiency and wall-clock execution, revealing that matrix-preconditioned and two-loop methods achieve good sample efficiency but require more aggressive computational optimizations to be competitive in runtime. Finally, our hyperparameter saliency and retention analyses show that the learning rate and momentum are highly sensitive across domains and algorithms, highlighting the need for methods that are more robust against hyperparameter tuning and can generalize well to new tasks.