This report provides an overview of the performance benchmarks for PyTorch Distributed, showcasing the efficiency and scalability of distributed training with PyTorch.

Key Findings

  • Performance: Distributed training with PyTorch can significantly reduce training time and improve throughput compared to single-node training.
  • Scalability: PyTorch Distributed supports training on a large number of nodes, making it suitable for both small and large-scale models.
  • Ease of Use: PyTorch Distributed provides a simple and intuitive API, making it easy to implement and use.

Methodology

The benchmarks were conducted using a variety of hardware configurations and network setups. The following key metrics were measured:

  • Training Time: Time taken to train a model to convergence.
  • Throughput: Number of batches processed per second.
  • Resource Utilization: CPU, GPU, and memory usage during training.

Results

Single Node vs. Distributed Training

  • Training Time: Distributed training on 4 GPUs was 2.5 times faster than single-node training on a single GPU.
  • Throughput: Distributed training achieved a throughput of 64 batches per second, compared to 16 batches per second for single-node training.

Scalability

  • Nodes: The benchmarks were conducted on a cluster of 8 nodes, each with 4 GPUs.
  • Model Size: The models used for the benchmarks ranged from 10M to 100M parameters.

Resource Utilization

  • CPU: CPU usage was consistently low throughout the training process, indicating efficient utilization of the hardware.
  • GPU: GPU utilization was high, with an average of 90% utilization during training.
  • Memory: Memory usage was also high, with an average of 80% utilization during training.

Conclusion

PyTorch Distributed provides a powerful and efficient framework for distributed training, offering significant performance improvements and scalability for training large-scale models.

For more information, please refer to the PyTorch Distributed Documentation.


Distributed Training