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Beyond basic gradient checkpointing, how do you choose selective activation recomputation to maximize MFU?

Full activation checkpointing saves memory but burns a flat 30% extra compute. Selective recomputation recovers most of that by only recomputing the cheap, memory-heavy operations. Here is how to pick what to recompute.

Updated Aug 2026 · Grounded in real Applied AI Engineer interview loops and written to a senior-engineer editorial bar.

Full activation checkpointing saves memory but burns a flat 30% extra compute. Selective recomputation recovers most of that by only recomputing the cheap, memory-heavy operations. Here is how to pick what to recompute.

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