diff --git a/llama.cpp b/llama.cpp
index 582e82260..920689d3f 100644
--- a/llama.cpp
+++ b/llama.cpp
@@ -8001,11 +8001,71 @@ void llama_sample_top_k(struct llama_context * ctx, llama_token_data_array * can
         auto comp = [](const llama_token_data & a, const llama_token_data & b) {
             return a.logit > b.logit;
         };
-        if (k == (int) candidates->size) {
-            std::sort(candidates->data, candidates->data + candidates->size, comp);
-        } else {
-            std::partial_sort(candidates->data, candidates->data + k, candidates->data + candidates->size, comp);
+        constexpr int   nbuckets    = 100;
+        constexpr float bucket_low  = -10.0f;
+        constexpr float bucket_high =  10.0f;
+
+        std::vector<llama_token_data> tmp_tokens(candidates->size);
+        std::vector<int> bucket_idx(candidates->size);
+        std::vector<int> histo(nbuckets, 0);
+        std::vector<llama_token_data*> bucket_ptrs;
+        bucket_ptrs.reserve(nbuckets);
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < (int)candidates->size; ++i) {
+            const float val = candidates->data[i].logit;
+            int ib = nbuckets * (val - bucket_low) / (bucket_high - bucket_low);
+            ib = std::max(0, std::min(nbuckets-1, ib));
+            bucket_idx[i] = ib;
+            ++histo[ib];
         }
+        auto ptr = tmp_tokens.data();
+        int nhave = 0;
+        int ib = nbuckets - 1;
+        for ( ; ib >= 0; --ib) {
+            nhave += histo[ib];
+            bucket_ptrs.push_back(ptr);
+            if (nhave >= k) break;
+            ptr += histo[ib];
+        }
+        for (int i = 0; i < (int)candidates->size; ++i) {
+            int j = bucket_idx[i];
+            if (j >= ib) {
+                *bucket_ptrs[nbuckets-1-j]++ = candidates->data[i];
+            }
+        }
+
+        ptr = tmp_tokens.data();
+        int ndone = 0;
+        for (int j = nbuckets-1; j > ib; --j) {
+            std::sort(ptr, ptr + histo[j], comp);
+            ptr += histo[j];
+            ndone += histo[j];
+        }
+        std::partial_sort(ptr, ptr + k - ndone, ptr + histo[ib], comp);
+
+        std::memcpy(candidates->data, tmp_tokens.data(), k*sizeof(llama_token_data));
+
+        //std::vector<llama_token_data> buckets[nbuckets];
+
+        //for (size_t i = 0; i < candidates->size; ++i) {
+        //    const float val = candidates->data[i].logit;
+        //    int ib = nbuckets * (val - bucket_low) / (bucket_high - bucket_low);
+        //    ib = std::max(ib, 0);
+        //    ib = std::min(ib, nbuckets-1);
+        //    buckets[ib].push_back(candidates->data[i]);
+        //}
+
+        //int nsorted = 0;
+        //for (int ib = nbuckets-1; ib >= 0; --ib) {
+        //    std::sort(buckets[ib].begin(), buckets[ib].end(), comp);
+        //    memcpy(candidates->data + nsorted, buckets[ib].data(), buckets[ib].size()*sizeof(llama_token_data));
+
+        //    nsorted += buckets[ib].size();
+
+        //    if (nsorted >= k) {
+        //        break;
+        //    }
+        //}
         candidates->sorted = true;
     }
     candidates->size = k;