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Comparisons / GPT-2 vs Qwen3-8B

GPT-2 vs Qwen3-8B

What seven years of scaling actually changed inside the decoder.

Qwen3-8B has 8.1B more parameters than GPT-2: 212 layers added, 3 removed, 6 changed.

Baseline

GPT-2

Layers
10
Parameters
84M
Input
1 × 1024
Output
1 × 1024 × 50257
Forward-passes
yes
Est. train cost
$1.82
Compared

Qwen3-8B

Layers
219
Parameters
8.2B
Input
1 × 40960
Output
1 × 40960 × 151936
Forward-passes
yes
Est. train cost
$20,863

The deltas

Every number is Qwen3-8B relative to GPT-2.

Parameters
+8.1B (97× the size)
Layers
+209
Added
212
Removed
3
Changed
6
Unchanged
3

Which GPUs each one fits

Each side is measured at its own declared input (1 × 1024 against 1 × 40960). Both columns are right about their own model; the difference between them is not a fact about the designs.

GPUGPT-2Qwen3-8B
T4 16GBfitsno
A100 40GBfitsno
H100 80GBfitsno

Layer by layer

Aligned in topological order. 3 of 224 rows are the same layer with the same parameters.

Show all 224 rows
GPT-2Qwen3-8B
LayerParamsOutputLayerParamsOutput
1changed
shape
tokens
Input
1 × 1024Input
Input
1 × 40960
2changed
numEmbeddings, embeddingDim, vocabSize, maxSeqLen
token_embed
Embedding
39M1 × 1024 × 768Embedding
Embedding
622M1 × 40960 × 4096
3removedpos_embed
Positional Encoding
1 × 1024 × 768—
4changed
type, normalizedShape
ln_1
Layer Norm
1.5K1 × 1024 × 768RMSNorm_1_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
5removedattn
Causal Attention
2.4M1 × 1024 × 768—
6added—Attention_1
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
7sameresidual_1
Add
1 × 1024 × 768Add_1_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
8changed
type, normalizedShape
ln_2
Layer Norm
1.5K1 × 1024 × 768RMSNorm_1_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
9removedmlp
Feed Forward
4.7M1 × 1024 × 768—
10added—FFN_1
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
11added—Add_1_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
12added—RMSNorm_2_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
13added—Attention_2
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
14added—Add_2_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
15added—RMSNorm_2_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
16added—FFN_2
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
17added—Add_2_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
18added—RMSNorm_3_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
19added—Attention_3
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
20added—Add_3_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
21added—RMSNorm_3_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
22added—FFN_3
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
23added—Add_3_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
24added—RMSNorm_4_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
25added—Attention_4
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
26added—Add_4_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
27added—RMSNorm_4_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
28added—FFN_4
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
29added—Add_4_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
30added—RMSNorm_5_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
31added—Attention_5
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
32added—Add_5_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
33added—RMSNorm_5_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
34added—FFN_5
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
35added—Add_5_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
36added—RMSNorm_6_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
37added—Attention_6
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
38added—Add_6_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
39added—RMSNorm_6_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
40added—FFN_6
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
41added—Add_6_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
42added—RMSNorm_7_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
43added—Attention_7
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
44added—Add_7_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
45added—RMSNorm_7_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
46added—FFN_7
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
47added—Add_7_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
48added—RMSNorm_8_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
49added—Attention_8
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
50added—Add_8_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
51added—RMSNorm_8_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
52added—FFN_8
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
53added—Add_8_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
54added—RMSNorm_9_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
55added—Attention_9
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
56added—Add_9_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
57added—RMSNorm_9_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
58added—FFN_9
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
59added—Add_9_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
60added—RMSNorm_10_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
61added—Attention_10
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
62added—Add_10_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
63added—RMSNorm_10_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
64added—FFN_10
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
65added—Add_10_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
66added—RMSNorm_11_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
67added—Attention_11
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
68added—Add_11_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
69added—RMSNorm_11_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
70added—FFN_11
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
71added—Add_11_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
72added—RMSNorm_12_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
73added—Attention_12
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
74added—Add_12_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
75added—RMSNorm_12_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
76added—FFN_12
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
77added—Add_12_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
78added—RMSNorm_13_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
79added—Attention_13
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
80added—Add_13_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
81added—RMSNorm_13_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
82added—FFN_13
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
83added—Add_13_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
84added—RMSNorm_14_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
85added—Attention_14
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
86added—Add_14_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
87added—RMSNorm_14_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
88added—FFN_14
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
89added—Add_14_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
90added—RMSNorm_15_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
91added—Attention_15
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
92added—Add_15_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
93added—RMSNorm_15_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
94added—FFN_15
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
95added—Add_15_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
96added—RMSNorm_16_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
97added—Attention_16
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
98added—Add_16_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
99added—RMSNorm_16_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
100added—FFN_16
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
101added—Add_16_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
102added—RMSNorm_17_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
103added—Attention_17
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
104added—Add_17_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
105added—RMSNorm_17_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
106added—FFN_17
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
107added—Add_17_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
108added—RMSNorm_18_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
109added—Attention_18
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
110added—Add_18_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
111added—RMSNorm_18_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
112added—FFN_18
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
113added—Add_18_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
114added—RMSNorm_19_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
115added—Attention_19
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
116added—Add_19_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
117added—RMSNorm_19_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
118added—FFN_19
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
119added—Add_19_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
120added—RMSNorm_20_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
121added—Attention_20
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
122added—Add_20_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
123added—RMSNorm_20_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
124added—FFN_20
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
125added—Add_20_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
126added—RMSNorm_21_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
127added—Attention_21
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
128added—Add_21_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
129added—RMSNorm_21_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
130added—FFN_21
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
131added—Add_21_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
132added—RMSNorm_22_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
133added—Attention_22
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
134added—Add_22_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
135added—RMSNorm_22_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
136added—FFN_22
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
137added—Add_22_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
138added—RMSNorm_23_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
139added—Attention_23
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
140added—Add_23_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
141added—RMSNorm_23_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
142added—FFN_23
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
143added—Add_23_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
144added—RMSNorm_24_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
145added—Attention_24
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
146added—Add_24_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
147added—RMSNorm_24_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
148added—FFN_24
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
149added—Add_24_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
150added—RMSNorm_25_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
151added—Attention_25
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
152added—Add_25_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
153added—RMSNorm_25_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
154added—FFN_25
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
155added—Add_25_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
156added—RMSNorm_26_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
157added—Attention_26
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
158added—Add_26_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
159added—RMSNorm_26_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
160added—FFN_26
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
161added—Add_26_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
162added—RMSNorm_27_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
163added—Attention_27
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
164added—Add_27_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
165added—RMSNorm_27_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
166added—FFN_27
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
167added—Add_27_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
168added—RMSNorm_28_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
169added—Attention_28
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
170added—Add_28_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
171added—RMSNorm_28_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
172added—FFN_28
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
173added—Add_28_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
174added—RMSNorm_29_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
175added—Attention_29
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
176added—Add_29_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
177added—RMSNorm_29_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
178added—FFN_29
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
179added—Add_29_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
180added—RMSNorm_30_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
181added—Attention_30
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
182added—Add_30_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
183added—RMSNorm_30_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
184added—FFN_30
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
185added—Add_30_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
186added—RMSNorm_31_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
187added—Attention_31
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
188added—Add_31_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
189added—RMSNorm_31_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
190added—FFN_31
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
191added—Add_31_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
192added—RMSNorm_32_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
193added—Attention_32
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
194added—Add_32_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
195added—RMSNorm_32_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
196added—FFN_32
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
197added—Add_32_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
198added—RMSNorm_33_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
199added—Attention_33
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
200added—Add_33_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
201added—RMSNorm_33_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
202added—FFN_33
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
203added—Add_33_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
204added—RMSNorm_34_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
205added—Attention_34
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
206added—Add_34_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
207added—RMSNorm_34_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
208added—FFN_34
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
209added—Add_34_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
210added—RMSNorm_35_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
211added—Attention_35
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
212added—Add_35_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
213added—RMSNorm_35_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
214added—FFN_35
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
215added—Add_35_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
216added—RMSNorm_36_1
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
217added—Attention_36
Grouped Query Attention
42M1 × 40960 × 4096
218added—Add_36_attn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
219added—RMSNorm_36_2
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
220added—FFN_36
Swiglu
151M1 × 40960 × 4096
221sameresidual_2
Add
1 × 1024 × 768Add_36_ffn
Add
1 × 40960 × 4096
222changed
type, normalizedShape
ln_f
Layer Norm
1.5K1 × 1024 × 768Final_RMSNorm
Rms Norm
4.1K1 × 40960 × 4096
223changed
outFeatures, inFeatures, bias
lm_head
Linear
1 × 1024 × 50257LM_Head
Linear
622M1 × 40960 × 151936
224samelogits
Output
1 × 1024 × 50257Output
Output
1 × 40960 × 151936

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