The problem
How many blocks can actually be active when every kernel consumes a different mix of scarce resources?
What current research shows
NVIDIA's Best Practices Guide describes occupancy as a result of execution parameters and per-block resource use, including registers and shared memory. More occupancy can help hide latency, but maximizing occupancy alone doesn’t guarantee maximum performance.
Where the evidence stops
Occupancy is a capacity indicator, not a universal throughput metric. A kernel can be limited by memory, instruction issue, dependencies, or a different resource.
What Valen Systems is testing
Record occupancy alongside achieved throughput, memory traffic, dependency stalls, power, and completion time for each kernel configuration.