diff --git a/src/core/test/mem_alloc.cpp b/src/core/test/mem_alloc.cpp
index 0896d6bbfa1dffa77da3574c13509e82b3b0b5ee..cc379cf073c88c134d2d5b1f038d138258d38343 100644
--- a/src/core/test/mem_alloc.cpp
+++ b/src/core/test/mem_alloc.cpp
@@ -570,19 +570,20 @@ public:
 #endif
 
 using Callback = std::function<void()>;
-void test_free_mem(CompNode cn0, CompNode cn1, DevicePolicy* policy,
+void test_free_mem(CompNode::Locator loc0, CompNode::Locator loc1, DevicePolicy* policy,
                    const Callback& before_run, const Callback& after_run) {
     size_t tot, free;
     policy->set_device(0);
     policy->get_mem_info(free, tot);
 
     // exception
-    auto do_run = [cn0, cn1, policy, free]() {
+    auto do_run = [loc0, loc1, policy, free]() {
         void* tmp;
         policy->raw_dev_malloc(&tmp, free / 3);
         auto dev_free = [&](void* ptr) {
             policy->raw_dev_free(ptr);
         };
+        auto cn0 = CompNode::load(loc0), cn1 = CompNode::load(loc1);
         std::unique_ptr<void, decltype(dev_free)> tmp_owner{tmp, dev_free};
         auto check_free = [&](const char* msg, size_t expect) {
             auto get = cn0.get_mem_status_bytes().second;
@@ -648,7 +649,8 @@ TEST(TestCudaMemAlloc, FreeMem) {
     REQUIRE_GPU(1);
     CompNode::finalize();
     // same device but different stream
-    auto cn0 = CompNode::load("gpu0"), cn1 = CompNode::load("gpu0:1");
+    using Locator = CompNode::Locator;
+    auto loc0 = Locator::parse("gpu0"), loc1 = Locator::parse("gpu0:1");
     auto policy = std::make_unique<CudaDevicePolicy>();
 
     constexpr const char* KEY = "MGB_CUDA_RESERVE_MEMORY";
@@ -662,7 +664,7 @@ TEST(TestCudaMemAlloc, FreeMem) {
         }
         CompNode::finalize();
     };
-    test_free_mem(cn0, cn1, policy.get(), reserve, restore);
+    test_free_mem(loc0, loc1, policy.get(), reserve, restore);
 }
 #endif  // MGB_CUDA