What is "GPU_MAX_HW_QUEUES"?

 GPU_MAX_HW_QUEUES controls the maximum number of hardware queues that can be used for GPU operations in ROCm/HIP environment (AMD GPUs).

Specifically:

1. Each hardware queue can handle GPU operations (kernels) independently
2. Default value is typically 8
3. In your script, it's set to 4: export GPU_MAX_HW_QUEUES=4

This setting affects:

• Parallel kernel execution
• Memory transfers
• Overall GPU utilization
• Resource allocation

Lower values (like 4) can:

• Reduce overhead
• Improve memory usage
• Lead to more predictable performance
• Be better for large models like LLaMA 70B

Higher values can:

• Allow more parallel operations
• Potentially improve throughput for smaller models
• Use more GPU resources

In your case, setting GPU_MAX_HW_QUEUES=4 is a conservative choice that helps manage memory and scheduling overhead when training the large LLaMA 70B model.