GPUs guarantee the value, not the timing — and atomics depend on timing
matiasgoldberg · x · 2026-11-01
matiasgoldberg highlights a key contract distinction in the GPU determinism debate: the hardware guarantees you always get the same value c from an add, but not whether it takes 3 cycles or 1, nor which core unit handles it. Once an operation relies on atomics — which depend on timings — all bets are off, analogous to how Spectre arises on x86.
Related event: GPU Experts Debate Whether Driver Versions Break CUDA Atomic Determinism(9 posts)→
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