Cycle 3 (MC interpolation) closure: M1'''=100%, R'''=0.067 RED, M4=-19.5%

Third daedalus-fourier kernel — VP9 8-tap regular subpel filter,
horizontal direction, 8-wide output. Multiply-heavy by design to
stress V3D's no-DP4A deficit. Full cycle Phase 1-7 + M4'''.

Phase 5''' second-model review delivered cleanly — caught 1 RED
bug pre-implementation (src_off off-by-3 indexing convention) and
2 YELLOW gaps (assert MUST language, shaderdb filter-LUT gate).
Without the review, M1''' would have failed silently on first run
with cryptic "high-index source pixels wrong" symptoms.

Phase 6 v1 first-light: M1''' 100.0000% bit-exact (65536/65536
blocks across all 16 mx phases). Phase 5''' filter-LUT prediction
materialised exactly: 197 uniforms (gate was 144), 2 threads (down
from cycle-2's 4 due to register pressure).

Performance:

  M2''' = 1.413 Mblock/s     (707.9 ns/block)
  M3''' = 20.997 Mblock/s    (NEON baseline phase3)
  R'''  = 0.067              (RED band — structural mismatch)
  shaderdb: 488 inst, 2 threads, 197 uniforms, 25 max-temps, 0 spills

M4''' concurrent matrix (8s windows):

  NEON 1-core           14.479 Mblock/s
  NEON 4-core           15.248 Mblock/s   <- baseline (compute-bound,
                                              not bandwidth-saturated
                                              like cycles 1+2!)
  QPU only               1.380 Mblock/s
  MIXED NEON-3 + QPU    12.277 Mblock/s   <- -19.5% (FAIL gate)
  MIXED NEON-4 + QPU    12.158 Mblock/s   <- -20.3%

NEW cross-cycle finding (Phase 9 lesson 2): compute-bound CPU
workloads make the QPU-offload story collapse. Cycles 1+2 were
bandwidth-saturated (4-core scaling 0.56-0.82x of 1-core), so
freeing a CPU core via QPU offload added throughput. Cycle 3 MC
is compute-bound (4-core scaling 1.05x of 1-core — near-linear),
no free cycles to free. QPU contribution (0.45 Mblock/s in
contention) doesn't compensate for losing 1 NEON core delivering
~3.8 Mblock/s.

But 30fps@1080p floor: PASS in every config (1.4x to 15.7x
isolation margin). Per project_30fps_floor_is_fine.md, user-facing
test never fails — daily YouTube playback works fine on any CPU/QPU
split.

DEPLOYMENT RECIPE for higgs (cycle 3 confirmed split):

  IDCT (k1)  -> QPU   (R=0.92, +7% mixed, frees CPU core)
  LPF  (k2)  -> QPU   (R=0.41, +7% mixed, frees CPU core)
  MC   (k3)  -> CPU   (R=0.067, -19.5% mixed — stays on CPU)
  Entropy    -> CPU   (structurally serial)

Mixed-substrate deployment, not "QPU does everything". Realistic for
higgs: entropy + MC on 2-3 ARM cores; IDCT + LPF dispatched to QPU
concurrently; 1-2 ARM cores left for vscode etc.

New artifacts:
- src/v3d_mc_8h.comp               — GLSL kernel
- tests/vp9_mc_ref.c               — standalone C ref (REGULAR filter
                                     embedded; clean transcription)
- tests/bench_neon_mc.c            — M1'''_c + M3''' bench
- tests/bench_v3d_mc.c             — M1''' + M2''' bench with contract
                                     asserts + 30fps margin display
- tests/bench_concurrent_mc.c      — M4''' pthread bench
- external/ffmpeg-snapshot/libavcodec/aarch64/vp9mc_neon.S    (vendored)
- external/ffmpeg-snapshot/libavcodec/vp9_subpel_filters_table.c
                                     (hand-extracted; provides
                                      ff_vp9_subpel_filters symbol
                                      without dragging in full vp9dsp.c)
- docs/k3_mc_phase{1,2,3,4,5,7}.md — full cycle documentation

Memory updates: project_30fps_floor_is_fine.md (user's 30fps target
recalibration), MEMORY.md index updated.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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---
cycle: 3
phase: 7
status: closed 2026-05-18 — RED engineering / PASS 30fps-floor / M4 NEGATIVE
date_opened: 2026-05-18
date_closed: 2026-05-18
parent: k3_mc_phase4.md (revised per phase5''')
host: hertz
verdict: cycle 3 closes; MC stays on CPU for higgs deployment; engineering negative documented
---
# Cycle 3, Phase 7 — Verification (v1 + M4''')
## v1 first-light
```
=== v3d MC 8h bench ===
n_blocks: 65536 iters: 100
=== M1''': QPU vs C reference bit-exact ===
blocks bit-exact: 65536 / 65536 (100.0000 %)
=== M2''': QPU throughput ===
M2''' = 1.413 Mblock/s
per-block = 707.9 ns
per-dispatch = 46390.5 us
R''' = 0.067 → RED band
30fps@1080p floor: 1.5x margin (isolation)
```
shaderdb (v1 MC):
```
SHADER-DB-ffcca249...: 488 inst, 2 threads, 0 loops, 197 uniforms,
25 max-temps, 0:0 spills:fills, 0 sfu-stalls, 488 inst-and-stalls, 7 nops
```
**Phase 5''' finding 2 prediction confirmed**: filter LUT inflated
uniforms to 197 (gate was at ~144). Compiler also forced to 2 threads
(from cycle-2's 4) due to register pressure (25 max-temps vs cycle-2's
21). The "no DP4A" structural deficit shows up directly here — 8
SMUL24 + 7 ADD per output pixel × 64 pixels per block × 8-lane
geometry = 488 instructions, 30× heavier than the LPF kernel.
## M4''' concurrent matrix (8s windows)
| Config | Mblock/s | per-core (NEON) | vs NEON-4 | 30fps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEON 1-core | 14.479 | — | — | 14.9× |
| **NEON 4-core** | **15.248** | 3.24 4.48 | **baseline** | 15.7× |
| QPU only | 1.380 | — | — | 1.4× |
| **Mixed NEON-3 + QPU** | **12.277** | 3.78 4.16 | **19.5 %** | 12.6× |
| Mixed NEON-4 + QPU | 12.158 | 2.49 3.35 | 20.3 % | 12.5× |
**M4 gate: FAIL.** Mixed (12.28) < pure NEON-4 (15.25) by 2.97
Mblock/s. The QPU's 0.45 Mblock/s contribution under contention
doesn't compensate for losing one NEON core that delivers ~3.8.
## Cross-cycle comparison
| | Cycle 1 IDCT | Cycle 2 LPF | Cycle 3 MC |
|---|---|---|---|
| R isolation | 0.92 | 0.41 | **0.067** |
| 30fps floor margin (isolation) | 7.9× | 10× | **1.5×** |
| M4 mixed vs pure NEON-4 | +7.2 % | +6.9 % | **19.5 %** |
| 30fps floor margin (mixed) | 7.2× | 7.2× | **12.6×** |
| Verdict for higgs | GO QPU | GO QPU | **STAY CPU** |
| NEON 4-core scaling vs 1-core | 0.56× (bw-bound) | 0.82× (bw-bound) | **1.05× (compute-bound)** |
The MC result is **structurally consistent** with the V3D substrate
profile from `phase0.md`:
- No DP4A → 8-wide convolution doesn't pack as it does on NEON SDOT
- Filter coefficients drive uniform count high → register pressure → 2 threads
- High per-output-pixel multiply count → compiled instruction count
3× cycle 1, 6× cycle 2
NEON 4-core is *compute*-bound for MC (not bandwidth-bound like
the other two kernels). So 4-core scales nearly linearly with cores —
the NEON CPU has plenty of headroom and the QPU has nothing to add
even in concurrent mode.
## Deployment recipe (for higgs / libva-v4l2-request-fourier)
Per `project_consumer_target.md`, the eventual integration target is
V4L2 stateless → libva-v4l2-request-fourier → firefox-fourier. The
back-end-on-QPU/CPU split for the consumed decoder pipeline:
- **IDCT (cycle 1)** → QPU. R = 0.92, +7 % mixed, frees a CPU core.
- **LPF (cycle 2)** → QPU. R = 0.41, +7 % mixed, frees a CPU core.
- **MC (cycle 3)** → **CPU NEON**. R = 0.067, 19.5 % mixed.
Compute-bound on CPU but CPU already comfortably exceeds 30fps;
offload makes things worse.
- **Entropy** (VP9 Bool / AV1 ANS) → CPU. Structurally serial.
This is a **mixed-substrate deployment**, not a "QPU does everything"
plan. Realistic for higgs: entropy + MC on 2-3 ARM cores; IDCT + LPF
dispatched to QPU concurrently; 1-2 ARM cores left for vscode / etc.
## Decision per Phase 1 rules + 30fps-floor calibration
| Rule | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|
| M1''' bit-exact | 100.0000 % | ✓ PASS |
| R''' = M2'''/M3''' | 0.067 (RED) | structural mismatch |
| M4''' > pure-CPU 4-core | 19.5 % | ✗ FAIL gate |
| 30fps@1080p floor (isolation) | 1.5× | ✓ PASS (user-facing) |
| 30fps@1080p floor (mixed) | 12.6× | ✓ PASS (user-facing) |
**Engineering cycle verdict: do not deploy MC on QPU; deploy on CPU.**
**User-facing cycle verdict: 30fps floor easily met in any
configuration; either path works for daily YouTube.**
For the deployment recipe above, **MC stays on CPU**. The Phase 1
ORANGE/RED "honest close" rule applies here: cycle 3 closes as a
documented negative for this kernel without affecting the
project-level "continue" verdict (cycles 1+2 GO results stand).
## Phase 9 lessons (added to project memory)
1. **Multiply-heavy workloads expose V3D's no-DP4A deficit** in a way
that cycle 1+2 didn't. CPU SDOT/UDOT pack 4 INT8 MACs in one
instruction; V3D's SMUL24 is one scalar mult at a time. The 4×
gap shows up directly as a 6-15× per-block slowdown.
2. **Compute-bound CPU workloads make the QPU offload story collapse.**
When NEON 4-core scales near-linearly (not bandwidth-saturated),
the "freed-core" argument from cycle 1+2 doesn't apply — there
are no free cycles to free. Mixed mode is strictly worse.
3. **The 30fps@1080p user-facing test (`project_30fps_floor_is_fine.md`)
passes regardless of engineering verdict.** All three cycles pass
it in isolation. This is a project-level win to communicate
separately from per-cycle engineering R numbers.
4. **The shaderdb filter-LUT gate from phase5''' finding 2 fired
exactly as predicted** (197 uniforms > 144 threshold; 2 threads
instead of 4). This validates the cycle-discipline of running
`V3D_DEBUG=shaderdb` early and using the result as an actionable
gate. Cycle 4 (if any) should bake this in from Phase 4 §design.
## Leaves open
- Cycle 3 v2 with filter LUT escalated to SSBO (per phase5''' finding 2
trigger). Would reduce uniforms to ~30, potentially restore 4
threads. Expected upside: ~2× → R''' = 0.13. Still RED, still M4-
negative. Skipped — even doubling doesn't change the deployment
recipe.
- Vertical / hv / 4-tap / wider variants — all of cycle 3 same
multiply-shape, same structural verdict expected. Not worth Phase
1+ for those.
- Cycle 4 candidates (per phase7_M4.md §"Cycle 3 candidates"):
CDEF (AV1-only directional filter), Loop Restoration (AV1-only),
or higgs deployment plumbing.