提出ADMM-Q量化方法,显著提升大模型压缩后精度,尤其在极低比特下表现优异。
ADMM-Q: An Improved Hessian-based Weight Quantizer for Post-Training Quantization of Large Language Models
- 基于改进的交替方向乘子法,分层优化权重量化,保证收敛性。
- 在W2A4KV4设置下,困惑度从66.11降至19.42,性能大幅提升。
- 可无缝替换现有量化工具,适配各类压缩流程,适合模型部署优化者。
量化是降低大语言模型存储与计算开销的有效手段。后训练量化(PTQ)是压缩大模型的主流方法。现有权重量化方法如GPTQ和RTN在激进量化级别(低于4比特)下模型性能明显下降。本文提出ADMM-Q,一种新型权重量化算法,针对分层量化问题设计。该方法基于交替方向乘子法(ADMM)的组合变体,通过算子分裂实现连续权重更新,最小化层内重构误差,同时逐步施加量化约束并保证收敛。我们引入惩罚调度、预处理及局部搜索后处理等增强策略,使ADMM-Q适用于大模型规模。该方法模块化设计,可作为现有量化流程中任意权重量化器的即插即用替代方案,兼容范围裁剪、学习或随机旋转、激活缩放等技术。在Qwen3-8B模型上使用ADMM-Q替代GPTQ,结果如下:(i) W3A16仅权重设置下,WikiText-2困惑度由12.85降至10.06;(ii) W4A8 SmoothQuant流程中,困惑度从9.29降至8.68;(iii) W2A4KV4 SpinQuant流程中,困惑度由66.11降至19.42。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Quantization is an effective strategy to reduce the storage and computation footprint of large language models (LLMs). Post-training quantization (PTQ) is a leading approach for compressing LLMs. Popular weight quantization procedures, including GPTQ and RTN, suffer in model utility, especially at aggressive quantization levels (sub-4-bit). We propose ADMM-Q, a novel weight quantization algorithm that considers the layer-wise quantization problem. Our algorithm is based on a combinatorial variant of the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). Our operator-splitting procedure updates weights continuously to minimize the layer-wise reconstruction error, while gradually enforcing the quantization constraints with convergence guarantees. We propose additional algorithmic enhancements (e.g., penalty scheduling, preconditioning, and a local search post-processing step) to make ADMM-Q efficient at LLM scale. ADMM-Q is modular and can be used as a drop-in replacement for any weight quantizer within existing quantization pipelines: ADMM-Q is fully composable with existing techniques including range clipping, learned or random rotations, and activation scaling. Using ADMM-Q in place of GPTQ on Qwen3-8B, we decrease WikiText-2 perplexity in: (i) the W3A16 weight-only setting (12.85 $\rightarrow$ 10.06); (ii) the W4A8 SmoothQuant procedure (9.29 $\rightarrow$ 8.68); and (iii) the W2A4KV4 SpinQuant procedure (66.11 $\rightarrow$ 19.42).
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。