diff --git a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs
index 44aa51971..fdc543189 100644
--- a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs
+++ b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_dqn_trainer.rs
@@ -8219,12 +8219,9 @@ impl GpuDqnTrainer {
                 12 * std::mem::size_of::<f32>(), self.stream.cu_stream(),
             ).map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("q_out sample0 DtoD: {e}")))?;
         }
-        // Sync: populate_q_out + q_stats_reduce just launched — must wait for
-        // pinned memory writes to complete before CPU reads.
-        unsafe {
-            let rc = cudarc::driver::sys::cuStreamSynchronize(self.stream.cu_stream());
-            assert_eq!(rc, cudarc::driver::sys::cudaError_enum::CUDA_SUCCESS, "q_stats stream sync");
-        }
+        // No sync — one-step lag is fine for monitoring. populate_q_out + q_stats_reduce
+        // launched async; pinned memory becomes visible by the NEXT epoch's call.
+        // Epoch 1 reads zeros (expected), epoch 2+ reads real atom stats.
 
         self.update_q_mean_ema();