An honest scoreboard
You will learn
How T27 was compared with NVFP4, MX+ and MXFP4 on a real language model, and what the result does not show.
A format is judged by what it does to a model. We stored the weights of one small language model in each format and measured perplexity on text it had not seen: lower is better. The rule was written before the run: T27 beats a rival when its perplexity is below 990 thousandths of the rival's. It beat NVFP4, MX+ and MXFP4, and it lost to E2M2, a wider format. The panel under the bars lists what this test cannot claim. The one claim that holds: T27 beats NVFP4 on a ternary substrate.
Try it
Find the NVFP4 ratio and the threshold line; then name the format T27 loses to and what it pays for that.
All lessons
Module 1 · The chip
What an FPGA is, which chip we use, and how its pins meet the board.
Module 2 · Numbers in hardware
Bits, trits and number formats, and what arithmetic costs in logic.
Module 3 · Your t27 program
Write a spec, test it, and see why compiling is not the same as being right.
Module 4 · Inside t27c
How the compiler reads a spec and what it writes, including the native t27b.
Module 5 · From spec to hardware
The Verilog t27c writes, the cells it becomes, and what one LUT does.
Module 6 · Reading synthesis
What yosys reports about your design, and which warnings matter.
Module 7 · Place, route, timing
Where the cells land on the die, and whether the clock is met.
Module 8 · The bitstream
How a routed design becomes the bits the chip loads, with no Vivado.
Module 9 · On the board
Ask the chip who it is, load the bits, and check them.
Module 10 · Lab: our own research
A number format of our own, an honest scoreboard, and a model's tables multiplied on the board.