kv-cache : pad the cache size to 256 for performance (#17046)

* kv-cache : pad the size of the small SWA cache for performance

* context : pad the total context to 256

* cont : future-proof the swa pad

* server : adjust test params to new logic

src/llama-context.cpp

@@ -114,10 +114,14 @@ llama_context::llama_context(
         }
     }
 
+    // ref: https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/17046#discussion_r2503085732
+    cparams.n_ctx = GGML_PAD(cparams.n_ctx, 256);
+
     if (cparams.kv_unified) {
         cparams.n_ctx_seq = cparams.n_ctx;
     } else {
         cparams.n_ctx_seq = cparams.n_ctx / cparams.n_seq_max;
+        cparams.n_ctx_seq = GGML_PAD(cparams.n_ctx_seq, 256);
 
         if (cparams.n_ctx_seq == 0) {
             throw std::runtime_error("n_ctx_seq == 0");

src/llama-kv-cache-iswa.cpp

@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ llama_kv_cache_iswa::llama_kv_cache_iswa(
 
     const uint32_t size_base = kv_size;
 
-    uint32_t size_swa = std::min(size_base, GGML_PAD(hparams.n_swa*(unified ? n_seq_max : 1) + n_ubatch, n_pad));
+    // note: the SWA cache is always padded to 256 for performance
+    //       https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/issues/17037
+    uint32_t size_swa = GGML_PAD(std::min(size_base, hparams.n_swa*(unified ? n_seq_max : 1) + n_ubatch), 256);
 
     // when using full-size SWA cache, we set the SWA cache size to be equal to the base cache size
     if (swa_full) {