arXiv:2509.02046cs.LGcs.AI2025-09被引 83

重新评估语言模型预训练优化器,发现多数加速效果被夸大。

Fantastic Pretraining Optimizers and Where to Find Them

  • 系统对比10种优化器,覆盖0.1B-1.2B参数和多数据量场景
  • 公平比较下,最快优化器仅比AdamW快1.1倍,且随模型增大而下降
  • 矩阵预条件器是提速关键,但对大模型增益有限

AdamW长期主导语言模型预训练,尽管有研究声称其他优化器可实现1.4至2倍加速。我们指出两个方法缺陷导致不公平比较:(i) 超参数调优不一致,(ii) 评估设置有限或误导。为此,我们在四个模型规模(0.1B–1.2B参数)和数据-模型比例(1–8倍Chinchilla最优值)下系统研究了十种深度学习优化器。结果表明,公平且有意义的比较需在训练末期进行严谨超参数调优与多尺度评估。首先,一种优化器的最佳超参对另一优化器可能次优,盲目迁移不公平;其次,多数优化器实际加速低于宣称,且随模型增大而下降,1.2B模型上仅达1.1倍;第三,提前检查点比较可能误导,因学习率衰减会导致优化器排名反转。深入分析发现,所有快速优化器如Muon和Soap均使用矩阵作为预条件器——即用矩阵乘梯度而非逐元素缩放。然而,这类优化器的加速效果与模型规模成反比,从0.1B模型的1.4倍降至1.2B模型的1.1倍。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

AdamW has long been the dominant optimizer in language model pretraining, despite numerous claims that alternative optimizers offer 1.4 to 2x speedup. We posit that two methodological shortcomings have obscured fair comparisons and hindered practical adoption: (i) unequal hyperparameter tuning and (ii) limited or misleading evaluation setups. To address these two issues, we conduct a systematic study of ten deep learning optimizers across four model scales (0.1B-1.2B parameters) and data-to-model ratios (1-8x the Chinchilla optimum). We find that fair and informative comparisons require rigorous hyperparameter tuning and evaluations across a range of model scales and data-to-model ratios, performed at the end of training. First, optimal hyperparameters for one optimizer may be suboptimal for another, making blind hyperparameter transfer unfair. Second, the actual speedup of many proposed optimizers over well-tuned baselines is lower than claimed and decreases with model size to only 1.1x for 1.2B parameter models. Thirdly, comparing intermediate checkpoints before reaching the target training budgets can be misleading, as rankings between two optimizers can flip during training due to learning rate decay. Through our thorough investigation, we find that all the fastest optimizers such as Muon and Soap, use matrices as preconditioners -- multiplying gradients with matrices rather than entry-wise scalars. However, the speedup of matrix-based optimizers is inversely proportional to model scale, decreasing from 1.4x over AdamW for 0.1B parameter models to merely 1.1x for 1.2B parameter models.

优化器预训练超参调优模型规模

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