diff --git a/docs/abstractions3.py b/docs/abstractions3.py
index e5b995b6f2..02fe7e29c1 100644
--- a/docs/abstractions3.py
+++ b/docs/abstractions3.py
@@ -26,11 +26,10 @@ l1n, l2n = l1.numpy(), l2.numpy()
 from tinygrad.nn.optim import SGD
 optim = SGD([l1, l2])
 
-Tensor.training = True
 X, Y = X_train[(samples:=Tensor.randint(128, high=X_train.shape[0]))], Y_train[samples]
 optim.zero_grad()
 model(X).sparse_categorical_crossentropy(Y).backward()
-optim.schedule_step()   # this will step the optimizer without running realize
+optim._step()   # this will step the optimizer without running realize
 
 # *****
 # 3. Create a schedule.
diff --git a/docs/tensor/properties.md b/docs/tensor/properties.md
index b4a99de29e..f30ac2968d 100644
--- a/docs/tensor/properties.md
+++ b/docs/tensor/properties.md
@@ -31,8 +31,4 @@
 ::: tinygrad.Tensor.shard_
 ::: tinygrad.Tensor.contiguous
 ::: tinygrad.Tensor.contiguous_backward
-
-## Gradient
-
-::: tinygrad.Tensor.gradient
 ::: tinygrad.Tensor.backward
diff --git a/examples/beautiful_mnist.py b/examples/beautiful_mnist.py
index 8668301267..4f43e414f8 100644
--- a/examples/beautiful_mnist.py
+++ b/examples/beautiful_mnist.py
@@ -26,9 +26,11 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
   @TinyJit
   @Tensor.train()
   def train_step() -> Tensor:
+    opt.zero_grad()
     samples = Tensor.randint(getenv("BS", 512), high=X_train.shape[0])
     # TODO: this "gather" of samples is very slow. will be under 5s when this is fixed
-    opt.step(loss:=model(X_train[samples]).sparse_categorical_crossentropy(Y_train[samples]))
+    loss = model(X_train[samples]).sparse_categorical_crossentropy(Y_train[samples]).backward()
+    opt.step()
     return loss
 
   @TinyJit
diff --git a/test/unit/test_gradient.py b/test/unit/test_gradient.py
index 63e55a091c..7f79e6af21 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_gradient.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_gradient.py
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 from typing import Callable
 import unittest, math
-import numpy as np
 import jax
 import jax.numpy as jnp
 from tinygrad import Tensor
 from tinygrad.dtype import dtypes
 from tinygrad.ops import UOp
 from tinygrad.gradient import gradient
-from tinygrad.nn.optim import SGD, Adam
 
 class TestGradient(unittest.TestCase):
   def _cmp_nan_okay(self, x, y):
@@ -62,29 +60,15 @@ class TestGradient(unittest.TestCase):
 
 class TestTensorGradient(unittest.TestCase):
   def test_example(self):
-    x = Tensor.eye(3)
+    # NOTE: this contiguous shouldn't be needed. gradient should go to base
+    x = Tensor.eye(3).contiguous()
     y = Tensor([[2.0,0,-2.0]])
     z = y.matmul(x).sum()
     dx, dy = z.gradient(x, y)
+    print(dx.tolist())
+    print(dy.tolist())
     self.assertListEqual(dx.tolist(), [[2.0, 2.0, 2.0], [0.0, 0.0, 0.0], [-2.0, -2.0, -2.0]])
     self.assertListEqual(dy.tolist(), [[1.0, 1.0, 1.0]])
 
-  def test_raises(self):
-    x = Tensor([1.0, 2.0, 3.0])
-    w = Tensor.randn((3,))
-    with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError): x.sum().gradient(w)
-
-  def test_optim(self):
-    with Tensor.train():
-      w = Tensor([1.0, 2.0, 3.0])
-      SGD([w], lr=0.1).step(w.sum())
-      np.testing.assert_almost_equal(w.tolist(), [0.9, 1.9, 2.9])
-
-  def test_optim_rng(self):
-    with Tensor.train():
-      x = Tensor([1.0, 2.0, 3.0])
-      w = Tensor.randn((3,))
-      Adam([w], lr=0.1).step((x*w).sum())
-
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   unittest.main()
diff --git a/tinygrad/gradient.py b/tinygrad/gradient.py
index 38220d0c15..6869b1b177 100644
--- a/tinygrad/gradient.py
+++ b/tinygrad/gradient.py
@@ -36,9 +36,6 @@ pm_gradient = PatternMatcher([
   # TODO: this cast can be removed by putting the casts around the EXPAND
   (UPat(Ops.EXPAND, name="ret"), lambda ctx, ret:
     (ctx.cast(sum_acc_dtype(ctx.dtype)).r(Ops.ADD, tuple(i for i,(si,so) in enumerate(zip(ret.src[0].shape, ret.arg)) if si!=so)).cast(ctx.dtype),)),
-
-  # there's no gradient for...is this ASSIGN?
-  (UPat(Ops.VIEW, src=(UPat(Ops.BUFFER), UPat(Ops.BUFFER_VIEW))), lambda: (None, None)),
 ])
 
 # copied from tensor.py, get relevant toposort of gradients
@@ -59,8 +56,8 @@ def gradient(root:UOp, targets:list[UOp]) -> list[UOp]:
   for t0 in reversed(_deepwalk(root, targets)):
     if t0 not in grads: continue
     lgrads: tuple[UOp|None, ...]|None = cast(tuple[UOp, ...]|None, pm_gradient.rewrite(t0, ctx=grads[t0]))
-    if lgrads is None: raise RuntimeError(f"failed to compute gradient for {t0.op}\n\nin {str(t0)[0:1000]}...")
-    assert len(lgrads) == len(t0.src), f"got {len(lgrads)} gradient, expected {len(t0.src)}"
+    if lgrads is None: raise RuntimeError(f"failed to compute gradient for {t0.op}")
+    assert len(lgrads) == len(t0.src)
     for k,v in zip(t0.src, lgrads):
       if v is None: continue
       if k in grads: grads[k] = grads[k] + v
diff --git a/tinygrad/nn/optim.py b/tinygrad/nn/optim.py
index 9f255886f7..ff77952d70 100644
--- a/tinygrad/nn/optim.py
+++ b/tinygrad/nn/optim.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # sorted in order of increasing complexity
-from typing import List, Optional
-from tinygrad.helpers import dedup, flatten, getenv, unwrap
+from typing import List
+from tinygrad.helpers import dedup, flatten, getenv
 from tinygrad.tensor import Tensor
 from tinygrad.dtype import dtypes, least_upper_dtype
 
@@ -27,20 +27,20 @@ class Optimizer:
     """
     for param in self.params: param.grad = None
 
-  def step(self, loss:Optional[Tensor]=None):
+  def step(self):
     """
     Performs a single optimization step.
     """
-    Tensor.realize(*self.schedule_step(loss))
-  def schedule_step(self, loss:Optional[Tensor]=None) -> List[Tensor]:
+    Tensor.realize(*self.schedule_step())
+  def schedule_step(self) -> List[Tensor]:
     """
     Returns the tensors that need to be realized to perform a single optimization step.
     """
     assert Tensor.training, (
             f"""Tensor.training={Tensor.training}, Tensor.training must be enabled to use the optimizer.
                 - help: Consider setting Tensor.training=True before calling Optimizer.step().""")
-    return self._step([unwrap(t.grad) for t in self.params] if loss is None else loss.gradient(*self.params))+self.params+self.buffers
-  def _step(self, grads:List[Tensor]) -> List[Tensor]: raise NotImplementedError
+    return self._step()+self.params+self.buffers
+  def _step(self) -> List[Tensor]: raise NotImplementedError
 
 class OptimizerGroup(Optimizer):
   """
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class OptimizerGroup(Optimizer):
     self.params, self.buffers = flatten([o.params for o in self.optimizers]), flatten([o.buffers for o in self.optimizers])
   def __getitem__(self, i): return self.optimizers[i]
   def zero_grad(self): [o.zero_grad() for o in self.optimizers]
-  def schedule_step(self, loss:Optional[Tensor]=None) -> List[Tensor]: return [x for o in self.optimizers for x in o.schedule_step(loss)]
+  def _step(self) -> List[Tensor]: return [x for o in self.optimizers for x in o._step()]
 
 # LARS is essentially just trust ratio to SGD so if we just set the trust coeff 0.0 its just standard SGD.
 def SGD(params: List[Tensor], lr=0.001, momentum=0.0, weight_decay=0.0, nesterov=False, classic=False):
@@ -76,10 +76,12 @@ class LARS(Optimizer):
     self.momentum, self.wd, self.nesterov, self.classic, self.tcoef = momentum, weight_decay, nesterov, classic, tcoef
     self.b = [Tensor.zeros(*t.shape, dtype=t.dtype, device=t.device, requires_grad=False) for t in self.params] if self.momentum else []
 
-  def _step(self, grads:List[Tensor]) -> List[Tensor]:
-    for i, (t, g) in enumerate(zip(self.params, grads)):
-      # contiguous is needed since the grads can allegedly form a "diamond". TODO: is this fixed?
-      g = g.contiguous()
+  def _step(self) -> List[Tensor]:
+    for i, t in enumerate(self.params):
+      assert t.grad is not None
+      # contiguous is needed since the grads can allegedly form a "diamond"
+      # TODO: fix this in lazy.py
+      g = t.grad.contiguous()
       if self.tcoef != 0:
         r1 = t.detach().square().sum().sqrt()
         r2 = g.square().sum().sqrt()
@@ -128,12 +130,13 @@ class LAMB(Optimizer):
     self.m = [Tensor.zeros(*t.shape, dtype=dtypes.float32, device=t.device, requires_grad=False).contiguous() for t in self.params]
     self.v = [Tensor.zeros(*t.shape, dtype=dtypes.float32, device=t.device, requires_grad=False).contiguous() for t in self.params]
 
-  def _step(self, grads:List[Tensor]) -> List[Tensor]:
+  def _step(self) -> List[Tensor]:
     self.b1_t *= self.b1
     self.b2_t *= self.b2
-    for i, (t, g) in enumerate(zip(self.params, grads)):
-      self.m[i].assign(self.b1 * self.m[i] + (1.0 - self.b1) * g)
-      self.v[i].assign(self.b2 * self.v[i] + (1.0 - self.b2) * (g * g))
+    for i, t in enumerate(self.params):
+      assert t.grad is not None
+      self.m[i].assign(self.b1 * self.m[i] + (1.0 - self.b1) * t.grad)
+      self.v[i].assign(self.b2 * self.v[i] + (1.0 - self.b2) * (t.grad * t.grad))
       m_hat = self.m[i] / (1.0 - self.b1_t)
       v_hat = self.v[i] / (1.0 - self.b2_t)
       up = (m_hat / (v_hat.sqrt() + self.eps)) + self.wd * t.detach()
diff --git a/tinygrad/tensor.py b/tinygrad/tensor.py
index b2bce208bf..5a028987d9 100644
--- a/tinygrad/tensor.py
+++ b/tinygrad/tensor.py
@@ -866,19 +866,6 @@ class Tensor(SimpleMathTrait):
   # ***** toposort and backward pass *****
 
   def gradient(self, *targets:Tensor) -> list[Tensor]:
-    """
-    Compute the gradient of the targets with respect to self.
-
-    ```python exec="true" source="above" session="tensor" result="python"
-    x = Tensor.eye(3)
-    y = Tensor([[2.0,0,-2.0]])
-    z = y.matmul(x).sum()
-    dx, dy = z.gradient(x, y)
-
-    print(dx.tolist())  # dz/dx
-    print(dy.tolist())  # dz/dy
-    ```
-    """
     assert isinstance(self.lazydata, UOp), "multi isn't supported yet"
     target_uops: List[UOp] = [x.lazydata for x in targets if isinstance(x.lazydata, UOp)]
     return [Tensor(y) for y in gradient(self.lazydata, target_uops)]