the step bench — two sdxl painters, three step counts
the cheapest question in diffusion: how many steps is enough? same prompt, same 512 canvas, two license-clean sdxl painters, and the sampler given 8, 32 and 64 steps to work with. the honest answer is usually 'fewer than you think'.
rendered on the 96G VRAM workstation — the machine column on every specimen sheet says so.
← the research index the licence ledgersampler dpmpp_2m · scheduler karras · cfg 6.0 · size 512×512
every cell opens its own specimen sheet: the render full size, its prompt verbatim, and every setting behind it.
albedobase xl 2.1
a weathered fisherman, oil painting portrait, dramatic light
source: keel bench probe, 2026-07-14 — a deliberately plain prompt so the step count is the only thing under test
| step count (8 / 32 / 64) × 2 checkpoints | 8 steps | 32 steps | 64 steps |
|---|---|---|---|
 albedobaseXL_v21 · dpmpp_2m/karras · 8 steps · 512×512 · seed 100000 · no timing recorded |  albedobaseXL_v21 · dpmpp_2m/karras · 32 steps · 512×512 · seed 200000 · no timing recorded |  albedobaseXL_v21 · dpmpp_2m/karras · 64 steps · 512×512 · seed 300000 · no timing recorded |
sdxl base 1.0
a weathered fisherman, oil painting portrait, dramatic light
source: keel bench probe, 2026-07-14 — a deliberately plain prompt so the step count is the only thing under test
| step count (8 / 32 / 64) × 2 checkpoints | 8 steps | 32 steps | 64 steps |
|---|---|---|---|
 sd_xl_base_1.0 · dpmpp_2m/karras · 8 steps · 512×512 · seed 100000 · no timing recorded |  sd_xl_base_1.0 · dpmpp_2m/karras · 32 steps · 512×512 · seed 200000 · no timing recorded |  sd_xl_base_1.0 · dpmpp_2m/karras · 64 steps · 512×512 · seed 300000 · no timing recorded |
↓ receipts.json — every image on this page with its full provenance, machine-readable.
painted by: albedobase xl 2.1 — OpenRAIL++-class, credit given · sdxl base 1.0 — CreativeML OpenRAIL++-M