diff --git a/tests/frank_small_unit.bats b/tests/frank_small_unit.bats
index cf6c4b2..2ac4355 100755
--- a/tests/frank_small_unit.bats
+++ b/tests/frank_small_unit.bats
@@ -118,14 +118,17 @@ argv_value() {
     [ $((ctx / par)) -le 262144 ]
 }
 
-@test "the KV contract is unquantized both halves, flash-attn on" {
+@test "the KV contract is f16 K + q8_0 V, flash-attn on" {
     serve_argv
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
     [ "$(argv_value --cache-type-k)" = "f16" ]
-    # Frank, 2026-10-03: the values are unquantized too. The flag pair is what
-    # makes this observable — a build without the FA path silently falls back,
-    # so both must appear in the argv the supervisor runs.
-    [ "$(argv_value --cache-type-v)" = "f16" ]
+    # Frank, 2026-10-05 (1862dc3): the Ornith payload has NINE full-attention
+    # layers (18 KiB/token/half) and +1,900 MiB of weights vs MiMo Q6_K, so
+    # f16/f16 lands ~379 MiB free — a dead boot; q8_0 V keeps 2 x 200,704
+    # AND the 2-3 GiB floor. The flag pair is what makes this observable — a
+    # build without the FA path silently falls back, so both must appear in
+    # the argv the supervisor runs.
+    [ "$(argv_value --cache-type-v)" = "q8_0" ]
     [ "$(argv_value --flash-attn)" = "on" ]
 }