TF2 code 10 times slower than equivalent PyTorch code for a Conv1D network - tensorflow

Question

I've been trying to translate some PyTorch code to TensorFlow 2, but the TF2 code is around 10 times slower. I've tried looking at where this might come from, and as far as I can tell it comes from the tape.gradient call (performance was the same with keras' .fit function). I've tried to use different data loaders, ways of declaring the model, installations, etc... and the results have been consistent.
Any explanation / solution as to why this is happening would be much appreciated.
Here is a minimalist version of the TF2 code:
import time
import tensorflow as tf
from tensorflow.keras import layers
import numpy as np
# Generate some fake data
train_labels = np.random.randint(10, size=1000)
train_data = np.random.rand(1000, 120, 18, 1)
train_dataset = tf.data.Dataset.from_tensor_slices((train_data, train_labels))
train_dataset = train_dataset.batch(256)
# Create a small model
model = tf.keras.Sequential([
layers.Conv1D(64, kernel_size=7, strides=3, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(64, kernel_size=5, strides=2, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(128, kernel_size=5, strides=2, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(128, kernel_size=3, strides=1, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(128, kernel_size=3, strides=1, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(256, kernel_size=1, strides=1, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.GlobalAveragePooling2D(),
layers.Flatten(),
layers.Dense(128, use_bias=True, activation="relu"),
layers.Dense(32, use_bias=True, activation="relu"),
layers.Dense(1, activation='sigmoid', use_bias=True),
])
optimizer = tf.keras.optimizers.Adam(learning_rate=1e-3, decay=5e-4)
#tf.function
def train_step(data_batch, label_batch):
with tf.GradientTape() as tape:
y_pred = model(data_batch)
loss = tf.keras.losses.MSE(labels_batch, y_pred)
gradients = tape.gradient(loss, model.trainable_weights)
optimizer.apply_gradients(zip(gradients, model.trainable_weights))
step_times = []
for epoch in range(20):
for data_batch, labels_batch in train_dataset:
step_start_time = time.perf_counter()
train_step(data_batch, labels_batch)
if epoch != 0:
step_times.append(time.perf_counter()-step_start_time)
print(f"Average training step time: {np.mean(step_times):.3f}s.")
And the PyTorch equivalent:
import time
import numpy as np
import torch
import torch.nn as nn
import torch.nn.functional as F
torch.backends.cudnn.benchmark = True
device = torch.device("cuda:0" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
# Generate some fake data
train_labels = np.random.randint(10, size=1000)
train_data = np.random.rand(1000, 18, 120)
# Create a small model
class Model(torch.nn.Module):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
self.conv1 = nn.Conv1d(18, 64, kernel_size=7, stride=3, padding=3)
self.conv2 = nn.Conv1d(64, 64, kernel_size=5, stride=2, padding=2)
self.conv3 = nn.Conv1d(64, 128, kernel_size=5, stride=2, padding=2)
self.conv4 = nn.Conv1d(128, 128, kernel_size=3, stride=1, padding=1)
self.conv5 = nn.Conv1d(128, 128, kernel_size=3, stride=1, padding=1)
self.conv6 = nn.Conv1d(128, 256, kernel_size=3, stride=1, padding=1)
self.fc1 = nn.Linear(256, 128)
self.fc2 = nn.Linear(128, 32)
self.fc3 = nn.Linear(32, 1)
def forward(self, inputs):
x = F.relu(self.conv1(inputs))
x = F.relu(self.conv2(x))
x = F.relu(self.conv3(x))
x = F.relu(self.conv4(x))
x = F.relu(self.conv5(x))
x = F.relu(self.conv6(x))
x = x.mean(2)
x = F.relu(self.fc1(x))
x = F.relu(self.fc2(x))
x = torch.sigmoid(self.fc3(x))
return x
model = Model()
model.to(device)
optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters(), lr=1e-3, weight_decay=5e-4)
loss_fn = torch.nn.MSELoss()
batch_size = 256
train_steps_per_epoch = train_data.shape[0] // batch_size
step_times = []
for epoch in range(20):
for step in range(train_steps_per_epoch):
batch_start, batch_end = step * batch_size, (step+1) * batch_size
data_batch = torch.FloatTensor(train_data[batch_start:batch_end]).to(device)
labels_batch = torch.FloatTensor(train_labels[batch_start:batch_end]).to(device)
step_start_time = time.perf_counter()
optimizer.zero_grad()
y_pred = model(data_batch)
loss = loss_fn(labels_batch, torch.squeeze(y_pred))
loss.backward()
optimizer.step()
if epoch != 0:
step_times.append(time.perf_counter()-step_start_time)
print(f"Average training step time: {np.mean(step_times):.3f}s.")

Answer 1

You're using tf.GradientTape correctly, but both your models and data are different in the snippets you provided.
Here is the TF code that uses the same data and model architecture as your Pytorch model.
import time
import tensorflow as tf
from tensorflow.keras import layers
import numpy as np
# Generate some fake data
train_labels = np.random.randint(10, size=1000)
train_data = np.random.rand(1000, 120, 18)
train_dataset = tf.data.Dataset.from_tensor_slices((train_data, train_labels))
train_dataset = train_dataset.batch(256)
model = tf.keras.Sequential([
layers.Conv1D(64, kernel_size=7, strides=3, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(64, kernel_size=5, strides=2, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(128, kernel_size=5, strides=2, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(128, kernel_size=3, strides=1, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(128, kernel_size=3, strides=1, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.Conv1D(256, kernel_size=3, strides=1, padding="same", activation="relu"),
layers.GlobalAveragePooling1D(),
layers.Dense(128, use_bias=True, activation="relu"),
layers.Dense(32, use_bias=True, activation="relu"),
layers.Dense(1, activation='sigmoid', use_bias=True),
])
optimizer = tf.keras.optimizers.Adam(learning_rate=1e-3, decay=5e-4)
#tf.function
def train_step(data_batch, label_batch, model):
with tf.GradientTape() as tape:
y_pred = model(data_batch, training=True)
loss = tf.keras.losses.MSE(labels_batch, y_pred)
gradients = tape.gradient(loss, model.trainable_weights)
optimizer.apply_gradients(zip(gradients, model.trainable_weights))
step_times = []
for epoch in range(20):
for data_batch, labels_batch in train_dataset:
step_start_time = time.perf_counter()
train_step(data_batch, labels_batch, model)
if epoch != 0:
step_times.append(time.perf_counter()-step_start_time)
print(f"Average training step time: {np.mean(step_times):.3f}s.")
So, in reality, TF is 3 times faster than Pytorch: 0.035s vs 0.112s