diff --git a/scripts/frank-primary.env b/scripts/frank-primary.env
index 1347703..a8a14f8 100644
--- a/scripts/frank-primary.env
+++ b/scripts/frank-primary.env
@@ -67,4 +67,4 @@ FRANK_PRIMARY_KV_DTYPE=auto
 FRANK_PRIMARY_MNBT=1024
 FRANK_PRIMARY_GATHER_CHUNKS=32
 FRANK_PRIMARY_GATHER_LANES=64
-FRANK_PRIMARY_UTIL=0.98
+FRANK_PRIMARY_UTIL=0.90
diff --git a/tests/frank_primary_unit.bats b/tests/frank_primary_unit.bats
index 76ba372..a19c22e 100755
--- a/tests/frank_primary_unit.bats
+++ b/tests/frank_primary_unit.bats
@@ -74,16 +74,21 @@ DOWNLOAD="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/download-frank-primary.sh"
 }
 
 @test "the qualified engine shape is in the env file" {
-    # 2026-10-01 boot probe: 262,144 x 3 seqs at bf16 KV, util 0.98,
-    # KV_BYTES 11,047,010,304 PER RANK boots at "KV cache size: 798,280
-    # tokens" and reports max concurrency 3.05x for 262,144-token requests
-    # — all three full windows fit with an 11,848-token margin. The old
-    # "KV_BYTES is PER RANK, 9/16 GiB OOM" law was the MTP4 drafter's
-    # workspace reservation, not a VRAM wall: no-spec takes 11.05 GiB/rank
-    # and boots clean.
+    # 2026-10-01 boot probe: 262,144 x 3 seqs at bf16 KV, KV_BYTES
+    # 11,047,010,304 PER RANK boots at "KV cache size: 798,280 tokens" and
+    # reports max concurrency 3.05x for 262,144-token requests — all three
+    # full windows fit with an 11,848-token margin. The old "KV_BYTES is
+    # PER RANK, 9/16 GiB OOM" law was the MTP4 drafter's workspace
+    # reservation, not a VRAM wall: no-spec takes 11.05 GiB/rank and boots
+    # clean.
+    # UTIL 0.90 is a PRODUCTION-corrected value: the first production boot
+    # at 0.98 died at KV allocation (torch OOM, tried 10.28 GiB with 9.46
+    # free — 0.82 GiB short) while the rootless bench probe at the same
+    # numbers had booted; util 0.90 returns ~2.4 GiB/rank of workspace and
+    # is the deployed value.
     grep -q '^FRANK_PRIMARY_MAXLEN=262144$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_PRIMARY_SEQS=3$' "$ENV_FILE"
-    grep -q '^FRANK_PRIMARY_UTIL=0.98$' "$ENV_FILE"
+    grep -q '^FRANK_PRIMARY_UTIL=0.90$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_PRIMARY_KV_BYTES=11047010304$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_PRIMARY_KV_DTYPE=auto$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_PRIMARY_MNBT=1024$' "$ENV_FILE"