diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/ggml-vulkan.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/ggml-vulkan.cpp
index 0a79310..131839d 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/ggml-vulkan.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/ggml-vulkan.cpp
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ static bool is_pow2(uint32_t x) { return x > 1 && (x & (x-1)) == 0; }
 #define VK_VENDOR_ID_INTEL 0x8086
 #define VK_VENDOR_ID_NVIDIA 0x10de
 #define VK_VENDOR_ID_QUALCOMM 0x5143
+#define VK_VENDOR_ID_ARM 0x13B5
 
 #define VK_DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR_POOL_SIZE 256
 
@@ -2612,8 +2613,14 @@ static void ggml_vk_command_pool_cleanup(vk_device& device, vk_command_pool& p)
 static void ggml_vk_queue_command_pools_cleanup(vk_device& device) {
     VK_LOG_DEBUG("ggml_vk_queue_command_pools_cleanup()");
 
-    // Arbitrary frequency to cleanup/reuse command buffers
-    static constexpr uint32_t cleanup_frequency = 10;
+    // Arbitrary frequency to cleanup/reuse command buffers.
+    // rocky-vulkan-llama: env-tunable. panvk's small (~4GB) priv VA heap OOMs when many
+    // cmdbufs (each retaining a large per-cmdbuf TLS/WLS BO) accumulate before reset;
+    // GGML_VK_CMD_CLEANUP_FREQ lowers the accumulation bound on Mali/panvk.
+    static const uint32_t cleanup_frequency = []() {
+        const char *e = getenv("GGML_VK_CMD_CLEANUP_FREQ");
+        return e ? (uint32_t)atoi(e) : 10u;
+    }();
 
     if (device->compute_queue.cmd_pool.buffers_in_use() >= cleanup_frequency) {
         ggml_vk_command_pool_cleanup(device, device->compute_queue.cmd_pool);
@@ -3411,6 +3418,41 @@ static void ggml_vk_load_shaders(vk_device& device) {
             l_warptile_mmq = { 512, 128, 128, 32, subgroup_size_8, 32, 2, tm_m, tn_m, tk_m, subgroup_size_8 };
         }
 
+        // rocky-vulkan-llama: Mali/panvk (Mali-G610, subgroup=16, no coopmat).
+        // The stock L tile computes WM*WN/WARP accumulators/thread (L:
+        // 32*64/16 = 128), spilling ~5328 B/thread to the TLS stack on Mali's
+        // small register file -> occupancy collapse at ub>64. We shrink ONLY
+        // the L-variant; M/S stay stock so ub<=64 remains the ~21 t/s control.
+        //
+        // Iter1 (WM=WN=16, TM=TN=2 -> 16 acc, BM=64,BN=32, BLOCK 128): spill
+        //   5328->96 B, 5.8->23.4 t/s. CHAMPION.
+        // Iter2 (WM=32 -> 32 acc, AI 1.6->2.67): 624 B spill, 23.4->9.7 t/s.
+        //   REGRESSED 2.4x -> we are OCCUPANCY-bound, not AI-bound; the extra
+        //   registers/spill cost more than the intensity gain.
+        // Iter3 (WM=WN=16, BM=BN=64, BLOCK 256): 16 acc, tls 96, 23.4->25.8
+        //   t/s (+10%). CHAMPION.
+        // Note: the Q4_K prefill shader is mul_mmq.comp (int-dot), whose shared
+        //   memory is struct-based and scales with BK_STEP (=4 for non-id):
+        //   shared = BK_STEP*(20*BM + 36*BN). Under BK_STEP=4 the 32KB/core
+        //   budget caps resident workgroups such that iter3 (2 wg * 256 = 512
+        //   resident threads) is the warptile-only occupancy max -- BM=128
+        //   only drops to 1 wg (still 512, coarser). The next real lever is
+        //   BK_STEP itself (shader-side): 4->1 cuts shared ~4x -> up to 8 wg =
+        //   2048 resident threads (full occupancy). See report.
+        const bool is_mali =
+            (device->vendor_id == VK_VENDOR_ID_ARM) ||
+            (device->subgroup_size == 16 && !device->coopmat_support &&
+             !device->coopmat2 && device->vendor_id != VK_VENDOR_ID_INTEL);
+        if (is_mali) {
+            //                       BLK  BM  BN  BK  WM  WN  WMI TM TN TK WARP [BK_STEP]
+            l_warptile           = { 256, 64, 64, 16, 16, 16, 1, 2, 2, 1, 16 };
+            l_warptile_mmq       = { 256, 64, 64, 32, 16, 16, 1, 2, 2, 1, 16 };
+            // _int / _int_k feed mul_mmq.comp: append constant_id 11 = BK_STEP
+            // = 2 (L-only occupancy scope; M/S stay 11-elem -> default 4).
+            l_warptile_mmq_int   = { 256, 64, 64, 32, 16, 16, 1, 2, 2, 1, 16, 2 };
+            l_warptile_mmq_int_k = { 256, 64, 64, 32, 16, 16, 1, 2, 2, 1, 16, 2 };
+        }
+
         l_mmq_wg_denoms = l_wg_denoms = {128, 128, 1 };
         m_mmq_wg_denoms = m_wg_denoms = { 64,  64, 1 };
         s_mmq_wg_denoms = s_wg_denoms = { 32,  32, 1 };
@@ -3418,6 +3460,13 @@ static void ggml_vk_load_shaders(vk_device& device) {
         m_align =  64;
         s_align =  32;
 
+        if (is_mali) {
+            // Match the L tile (BM=64, BN=64). l_warptile[_mmq/_mmq_int/
+            // _mmq_int_k] all consume l_[mmq_]wg_denoms; align tracks BN.
+            l_wg_denoms = l_mmq_wg_denoms = { 64, 64, 1 };
+            l_align = 64;
+        }
+
         for (uint32_t i = 0; i < GGML_TYPE_COUNT; ++i) {
             ggml_type t = (ggml_type)i;
             // Disable medium and large matrix multiplication if not enough shared memory is available
@@ -14684,11 +14733,14 @@ static ggml_status ggml_backend_vk_graph_compute(ggml_backend_t backend, ggml_cg
     // (and scaled down based on model size, so smaller models submit earlier).
     // Also submit at least every 100 nodes, in case there are workloads without as much matmul.
     int nodes_per_submit = 100;
+    if (const char* e = getenv("GGML_VK_NODES_PER_SUBMIT")) { nodes_per_submit = atoi(e); }
     int submitted_nodes = 0;
     int submit_count = 0;
     uint64_t mul_mat_bytes = 0;
     uint64_t total_mul_mat_bytes = 0;
-    uint64_t mul_mat_bytes_per_submit = std::min(uint64_t(100*1000*1000), ctx->last_total_mul_mat_bytes / 40u);
+    uint64_t mul_mat_bytes_cap = 100*1000*1000;
+    if (const char* e = getenv("GGML_VK_MAX_MUL_MAT_BYTES_PER_SUBMIT")) { mul_mat_bytes_cap = strtoull(e, nullptr, 10); }
+    uint64_t mul_mat_bytes_per_submit = std::min(mul_mat_bytes_cap, ctx->last_total_mul_mat_bytes / 40u);
     for (int i = 0; i < cgraph->n_nodes; i++) {
         if (first_node_in_batch) {
             submit_node_idx = i;
@@ -14925,7 +14977,7 @@ static ggml_status ggml_backend_vk_graph_compute(ggml_backend_t backend, ggml_cg
             submitted_nodes = 0;
             mul_mat_bytes = 0;
             if (submit_count < 3) {
-                mul_mat_bytes_per_submit *= 2;
+                mul_mat_bytes_per_submit = std::min(mul_mat_bytes_per_submit * 2, mul_mat_bytes_cap);
             }
             submit_count++;
         }
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/vulkan-shaders/mul_mmq.comp b/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/vulkan-shaders/mul_mmq.comp
index aae1c2e..e8efe95 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/vulkan-shaders/mul_mmq.comp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/vulkan-shaders/mul_mmq.comp
@@ -86,9 +86,17 @@ layout (constant_id = 10) const uint WARP = 32;
 #ifdef MUL_MAT_ID
 #define BK_STEP 1
 #else
-#ifndef BK_STEP
-#define BK_STEP 4
-#endif
+// rocky-vulkan-llama iter5: BK_STEP as a spec constant so it can be scoped PER
+// PIPELINE VARIANT (same SPIR-V, specialized per L/M/S like BM/BN/WM already
+// are). mul_mmq shared = BK_STEP*(20*BM + 36*BN). Halving it on the
+// occupancy-bound L tile (Mali-G610: 2->4 resident wg) gave +9% (26->28 t/s),
+// but a global #define also halved it on the already-saturated M/S variants,
+// which then paid 2x K-loop barriers for no occupancy gain (iter4 M regression
+// 20.6->15.5). With this spec constant, only the Mali L warptile appends a
+// 12th element (constant_id 11) to set BK_STEP=2; M/S omit it and keep the
+// default 4. Caveat: a spec-constant loop bound may not [[unroll]] as tightly
+// as a #define -- if the L number slips vs iter4's 28.09, that is why.
+layout (constant_id = 11) const uint BK_STEP = 4;
 #endif
 
 // Shared memory cache