diff --git a/test/models/test_real_world.py b/test/models/test_real_world.py
index 0d8389b76c..651f67f792 100644
--- a/test/models/test_real_world.py
+++ b/test/models/test_real_world.py
@@ -28,13 +28,16 @@ def helper_test(nm, gen, model, max_memory_allowed, max_kernels_allowed, all_jit
       model(*early_gen)
       Device[Device.DEFAULT].synchronize()
       tms.append(time.perf_counter_ns() - st)
-    mem_used = GlobalCounters.mem_used - global_mem_used
+    mem_used = (GlobalCounters.mem_used - global_mem_used) / 1e9
 
     # TODO: jit should expose this correctly with graph
     kernels_used = len(model.jit_cache) if hasattr(model, "jit_cache") else None
     print(f"{nm}: used {mem_used/1e9:.2f} GB and {kernels_used} kernels in {min(tms)/1e6:.2f} ms")
-    assert mem_used/1e9 < max_memory_allowed, f"{nm} used more than {max_memory_allowed:.2f} GB - {mem_used/1e9:.2} GB used"
-    assert not kernels_used or kernels_used <= max_kernels_allowed, f"{nm} used more than {max_kernels_allowed} kernels, it used {kernels_used}"
+    assert mem_used < max_memory_allowed, f"{nm} used more than {max_memory_allowed:.3f} GB - {mem_used:.3} GB used"
+    assert (max_memory_allowed - mem_used) / max_memory_allowed < 0.2, f"{max_memory_allowed:.3f} GB is too far from {mem_used:.3} GB used"
+    if kernels_used:
+      assert kernels_used <= max_kernels_allowed, f"{nm} used more than {max_kernels_allowed} kernels, it used {kernels_used}"
+      assert (max_kernels_allowed - kernels_used) / max_kernels_allowed < 0.2, f"{max_kernels_allowed=} is too far from {kernels_used=} used"
     if all_jitted:
       assert kernels_used > 0 and kernels_used == GlobalCounters.kernel_count or (kernels_used <= GlobalCounters.kernel_count and getattr(Device[Device.DEFAULT], "graph", None)), f"only {kernels_used} out of {GlobalCounters.kernel_count} were jitted"  # noqa: E501
 
@@ -61,7 +64,7 @@ class TestRealWorld(unittest.TestCase):
     derandomize_model(model)
     @TinyJit
     def test(t, t2): return model(t, Tensor([801]), t2).realize()
-    helper_test("test_sd", lambda: (Tensor.randn(1, 4, 32, 32),Tensor.randn(1, 77, params["ctx_dim"])), test, 18.0, 515)
+    helper_test("test_sd", lambda: (Tensor.randn(1, 4, 32, 32), Tensor.randn(1, 77, params["ctx_dim"])), test, 0.011, 515)
 
   def test_unet_resblock(self):
     model = [ResBlock(16, 24, 16) for _ in range(4)]
@@ -70,7 +73,7 @@ class TestRealWorld(unittest.TestCase):
     def test(t, t2):
       for l in model: t = l(t, t2)
       return t.realize()
-    helper_test("test_unet_resblock", lambda: (Tensor.empty(4, 16, 8, 8), Tensor.empty(1, 24)), test, 0.01, 37)
+    helper_test("test_unet_resblock", lambda: (Tensor.empty(4, 16, 8, 8), Tensor.empty(1, 24)), test, 0.0002, 37)
 
   @unittest.skipUnless(is_dtype_supported(dtypes.float16), "need dtypes.float16")
   def test_llama(self):
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ class TestRealWorld(unittest.TestCase):
     @TinyJit
     def test(t): return model(t, 0).realize()
     # TODO: test first token vs rest properly
-    helper_test("test_llama", lambda: (Tensor([[1,2,3,4]]),), test, 0.27, 168, all_jitted=True)
+    helper_test("test_llama", lambda: (Tensor([[1,2,3,4]]),), test, 0.23, 118, all_jitted=True)
 
   @unittest.skipUnless(is_dtype_supported(dtypes.float16), "need dtypes.float16")
   def test_gpt2(self):
@@ -112,7 +115,7 @@ class TestRealWorld(unittest.TestCase):
         loss.backward()
         optimizer.step()
 
-      helper_test("train_mnist", lambda: (Tensor.randn(BS, 1, 28, 28),), train, 0.07, 103)
+      helper_test("train_mnist", lambda: (Tensor.randn(BS, 1, 28, 28),), train, 0.017, 103)
 
   @unittest.skipIf(CI and Device.DEFAULT in {"CPU", "CL"}, "slow")
   def test_forward_cifar(self):
@@ -122,7 +125,7 @@ class TestRealWorld(unittest.TestCase):
       model = SpeedyResNet(Tensor.ones((12,3,2,2)))
       @TinyJit
       def run(X): return model(X)
-      helper_test("forward_cifar", lambda: (Tensor.randn(BS, 3, 32, 32),), run, (1.0/48)*BS, 126)
+      helper_test("forward_cifar", lambda: (Tensor.randn(BS, 3, 32, 32),), run, 0.033, 27)
 
   @unittest.skipIf(CI and Device.DEFAULT in {"CPU", "CL"}, "slow")
   def test_train_cifar(self):
@@ -139,7 +142,7 @@ class TestRealWorld(unittest.TestCase):
         loss.backward()
         optimizer.step()
 
-      helper_test("train_cifar", lambda: (Tensor.randn(BS, 3, 32, 32),), train, (1.0/48)*BS, 126)
+      helper_test("train_cifar", lambda: (Tensor.randn(BS, 3, 32, 32),), train, 0.12, 126)
 
   @unittest.skipUnless(is_dtype_supported(dtypes.float16), "need dtypes.float16")
   def test_train_cifar_hyp(self):
@@ -176,7 +179,7 @@ class TestRealWorld(unittest.TestCase):
       for v in data.values(): v.to_(Device.DEFAULT)
 
       helper_test("train_bert", lambda: (data["input_ids"], data["segment_ids"], data["input_mask"], data["masked_lm_positions"], \
-          data["masked_lm_ids"], data["masked_lm_weights"], data["next_sentence_labels"]), train, 0.31, 427)
+          data["masked_lm_ids"], data["masked_lm_weights"], data["next_sentence_labels"]), train, 0.31, 400)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   unittest.main()