# Dankclaw — Improvements Research

This page collects concrete, sourced recommendations to improve Dankclaw
(the AMD Strix Halo inference box). It covers self-hosted agentic tools,
inference runtime tuning, and server/OS/hardware settings. Each item lists a
priority and the exact action.

Dates: researched 2026-08. Hardware is verified on the live machine unless
marked "verify first". Re-verified 2026-08-15/16; corrections marked below.

## Corrections (re-verified 2026-08-15/16)

- **Backend**: production is **Vulkan0**, not ROCm. Measured on this box
  (b10433): Vulkan 25.13 t/s vs ROCm 24.33 t/s decode at 16k; at 262k ctx
  Vulkan decodes 48% faster (5.68 vs 3.83 t/s). ROCm wins prefill (410 vs
  302 t/s @64k). The "HIP out-performs Vulkan for decode" claim did not
  hold on the 8060S. See [[frank-large-benchmark]].
- **Power profile**: the `/sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_profile` file
  does not exist on this machine (checked 2026-08-15). GPU DPM is already
  `performance`, forced level `auto`. This item is N/A.
- **KV cache**: production runs `q8_0` K **and** `q8_0` V (both quantized).
- **Spec**: DFlash/DSpark are retired. Production is `--spec-default`
  (ngram-mod) with draft-mtp first. See [[qwen3.8-spec-matrix]].
- **TTM**: raised to 114 GiB on 2026-08-25, set live (no reboot) and
  persisted in `/etc/modprobe.d/ttm.conf`. The effective VRAM ceiling that
  once held the service at ~15 GiB is gone.

## Verified Memory Picture (measured 2026-08-11)

| Figure | Value | Source |
| ------ | ----- | ------ |
| OS physical RAM | 30.5 GiB | `/proc/meminfo` |
| TTM pages_limit | 114 GiB (29,883,536 x 4KiB) — raised 2026-08-25 | `/sys/module/ttm/parameters/pages_limit` |
| ROCm VRAM total | 96.0 GiB | `rocm-smi --showmeminfo vram` |
| ROCm VRAM used | 76.2 GiB | `rocm-smi` while serving 3x200700 |

The OS accounts only ~30.5 GiB physical RAM. The TTM GPU-addressable pool
was capped at ~15.24 GiB (the real pre-2026-08-25 ceiling); that cap is now
lifted to 114 GiB. ROCm/SMI still reports a 96 GiB VRAM carve-out (VGM) — a
different, driver-reported figure that has always been larger than the kernel
cap.
This split is the Strix Halo GTT/VGM design. It drives the batch/ubatch memory
limits documented in [[frank-large-benchmark]].

## 1. Self-Hosted Agentic Tools

All of these connect to the local llama.cpp OpenAI-compatible endpoint
(`http://localhost:7770/v1`). None need NVIDIA.

| Tool | Use | Endpoint config | Priority |
| ---- | --- | --------------- | -------- |
| Open WebUI | Chat + agent harness, plugins, RAG, tool calling | Add OpenAI-compatible provider -> `http://localhost:7770/v1` | High |
| Cline (VS Code) | IDE coding agent with MCP | Provider "OpenAI Compatible", `API_URL=http://localhost:7770/v1` | High |
| Aider (CLI) | Terminal pair-programming agent | `OPENAI_API_BASE=http://localhost:7770/v1` | Medium |
| Continue.dev (VS Code) | Open-source coding agent | `config.json` -> `{type:"openai", apiBase:"http://localhost:7770"}` | Medium |
| OpenHands (Agent Canvas) | Self-hosted multi-agent coding platform | LiteLLM custom model + Base URL to the endpoint | Medium |
| AnythingLLM | RAG / knowledge chat | Provider "OpenAI (Generic)" -> endpoint | Medium |
| Browser Use | Browser automation agent (Playwright) | `ChatOpenAI(base_url="http://localhost:7770/v1")` | Low |
| Qdrant | Vector store for RAG | Standalone, CPU-native | Low |

The pragmatic first installs are Open WebUI, Cline, and Aider. They all work
with the current llama.cpp server and need no extra GPU.

## 2. Inference Runtime Tuning (llama.cpp on gfx1151)

Verified against the running service and llama.cpp source.

| Change | Recommendation | Priority |
| ------ | -------------- | -------- |
| Backend | **Vulkan0** (2026-08-15, corrected — see Corrections). ROCm only for prefill-heavy workloads. | Done |
| KV cache | `q8_0` K / `q8_0` V in production. Try `q4_0` only if more context is needed. | Keep |
| Flash attention | Leave `--flash-attn auto`. It helps prompt processing, not decode. | Keep |
| Load mode | Start with mmap (default). Enable `--mlock` only if page-fault stutter appears. | Optional |
| Threads | Use `--threads 12 --threads-batch 16 --threads-http 1` for 16 Zen5 cores + 3 slots. Frees cores for the ROCm driver. | Medium |
| DFlash n_max | Current 8 (block 16) is high. Try `--spec-draft-n-max 5`; it may reduce rejection cost at the same throughput. | Verify |
| ngram layering | Measured slower than DFlash alone at 4k (16.9 vs 20.2 t/s). Not enabled. | Keep off |

## 3. Server / OS / Hardware Settings

All require root and a reboot for the modprobe change.

| Setting | Action | Effect | Priority |
| ------- | ------ | ------ | -------- |
| TTM GPU pool | `/etc/modprobe.d/ttm.conf` → `options ttm pages_limit=29883536 page_pool_size=29883536` (applied 2026-08-25, set live then persisted) | Lifts the 15 GiB cap to 114 GiB; the full 262k KV + Q8 AGENT payload fit in one slot | Done |
| Power profile | **N/A on this machine** (2026-08-15): no `power_profile` sysfs; GPU DPM already `performance` | none | ~~Medium~~ |
| NVMe scheduler | Already `none` (`[none]` confirmed) | No change | Done |
| BIOS VGM | Set Variable Graphics Memory / UMA to "High" in the EVO-X2 BIOS | Max dedicated VRAM for the GPU carve-out; verify in the live BIOS | Verify |
| Firmware/EC | Check GMKtec for a newer EC/fan-curve firmware | Better sustained thermal behavior | Verify |

## 4. Other Enhancements

- Test `--spec-draft-n-max 5` and re-benchmark acceptance; if throughput rises,
  change the env tunable.
- Consider switching the disabled `vllm-thinkingcap.service` unit off or
  removing it to avoid confusion (it is loaded in a failed state).
- Profile generation under 3-slot concurrent load before touching boot
  settings, so any tuning is measured against the real workload.

## Sources

- [[frank-large-benchmark]] — measured backend/spec numbers
- [[deployment]] — deploy and update process
- AMD ROCm RDNA3.5 system optimization guide (gfx1151 memory/BIOS)
- llama.cpp source: `ggml/CMakeLists.txt`, `ggml/src/ggml-hip/CMakeLists.txt`,
  `common/arg.cpp`, `common/common.h`
- NotebookCheck Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 analysis

## See Also

- [[frank-large-benchmark]]
- [[DFlash DSpark Speculative Decoding]]
- [[deployment]]
- [[index]]