diff --git a/tests/models/testing_utils/common.py b/tests/models/testing_utils/common.py
index ba060b3b120d..975ca9c683d9 100644
--- a/tests/models/testing_utils/common.py
+++ b/tests/models/testing_utils/common.py
@@ -481,7 +481,30 @@ def test_from_save_pretrained_dtype_inference(self, tmp_path, dtype, atol=1e-4,
         model.to(torch_device)
         fp32_modules = model._keep_in_fp32_modules or []
 
-        model.to(dtype).save_pretrained(tmp_path)
+        # Cast the in-memory reference the same way `from_pretrained(torch_dtype=dtype)`
+        # does, so the two never diverge: parameters and persistent buffers are cast to
+        # `dtype` (except `_keep_in_fp32_modules`, which stay fp32), while non-persistent
+        # buffers such as RoPE `inv_freq` are not stored in the checkpoint and keep the
+        # dtype assigned in `__init__`. A blanket `model.to(dtype)` casts both of these
+        # cases unconditionally and produces spurious output mismatches.
+        non_persistent_buffers = set()
+        for module_name, module in model.named_modules():
+            for buffer_name in module._non_persistent_buffers_set:
+                non_persistent_buffers.add(f"{module_name}.{buffer_name}" if module_name else buffer_name)
+
+        def _keep_in_fp32(name):
+            return bool(fp32_modules) and any(m in name.split(".") for m in fp32_modules)
+
+        for name, param in model.named_parameters():
+            if param.is_floating_point() and not _keep_in_fp32(name):
+                param.data = param.data.to(dtype)
+        for name, buffer in model.named_buffers():
+            if name in non_persistent_buffers:
+                continue
+            if buffer.is_floating_point() and not _keep_in_fp32(name):
+                buffer.data = buffer.data.to(dtype)
+
+        model.save_pretrained(tmp_path)
         model_loaded = self.model_class.from_pretrained(tmp_path, torch_dtype=dtype).to(torch_device)
 
         for name, param in model_loaded.named_parameters():