PTX guarantees nothing: drivers can still rewrite your compiled cubins
matiasgoldberg · x · 2026-11-01
Graphics expert matiasgoldberg argues in a debate on GPU determinism that the PTX contract makes no stability guarantee — NVIDIA choosing not to break things is not the same as guaranteeing it. The cubin may be set in stone, but the driver can decide to change it, and even cycle counts vary with the workload due to how occupancy works.
Related event: GPU Experts Debate Whether Driver Versions Break CUDA Atomic Determinism(9 posts)→
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