CanRun

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B hardware requirements

What is DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B is a reasoning model that DeepSeek released in January 2025, between the 8B and 32B distills of the same release. DeepSeek fine-tuned Qwen2.5-14B on samples generated by DeepSeek-R1 for math, code and step-by-step reasoning. The model card recommends a temperature of 0.5 to 0.7 and putting every instruction in the user message instead of a system prompt.

Model card

About the model

Parameters
14.77B
Attention
Full attention
Max context
131,072 tokens
Released
2025-01-20

Other sizes in this series

Graphics card memory each model needs at its baseline quant with 8k context, and its verdict on common graphics cards, smallest model first
ModelParametersBaseline quantMemory needed (8k)GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GBGeForce RTX 3090
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B8.03BQ4_K_M6.3 GBRuns greatRuns greatRuns great
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B8.19BQ4_K_M6.5 GBRuns greatRuns greatRuns great
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14Bthis model14.77BQ4_K_M10.7 GBRuns slowlyRuns wellRuns great
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B32.8BQ4_K_M22.1 GBWon't runRuns slowlyRuns well

GGUF files

Tracked quantizations of DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B, smallest first
QuantFile sizeQualityPublished by
Q2_K5.77 GBHeavy lossCommunity GGUF · bartowski
IQ4_XS8.12 GBGood balanceCommunity GGUF · bartowski
Q4_K_Mbaseline8.99 GBGood balanceCommunity GGUF · bartowski
Q8_015.70 GBNear-losslessCommunity GGUF · bartowski

Memory needed by quant and context

Graphics card memory in GB: weights loaded on the GPU + f16 KV cache + compute buffer. Add about 0.6 GB if the GPU also drives your display on Windows. Part of the file stays off the graphics card: llama.cpp keeps the input embedding table in system RAM. A Mac counts the whole file, so it needs a little more.
Quant4k8k16k32k64k128k
Q2_K6.97.79.412.819.533.0
IQ4_XS9.09.911.614.921.735.2
Q4_K_M9.910.712.415.822.536.0
Q8_016.217.118.722.128.942.3

Which GPUs can run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B?

How to read the verdicts

Runs great
Fully on the GPU at 20 tok/s or more
Runs well
Fully on the GPU at 8–20 tok/s; MoE experts in system RAM at 20 tok/s or more; or at least 90% on the GPU at 8 tok/s or more
Runs slowly
2–8 tok/s; CPU-only; less than 90% on the GPU; or MoE experts in system RAM below 20 tok/s
Won't run
Does not fit, or under 2 tok/s

Dense models split between GPU and CPU slow down sharply — the CPU side sets the pace. MoE models that keep only their experts in system RAM degrade far more gently.

Filter this list by budget, type and context in the calculator

Scroll sideways to see every column.

56 GPUs, Macs and CPU setups at Q4_K_M with 8k context, sorted by verdict and speed
HardwareVerdictSpeedQuantMemoryRuns asContextNotesPrice
GeForce RTX 5090
Runs great
est. 118.3 tok/s104.1–132.5calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 32.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$4,200 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Runs great
est. 68.8 tok/s60.6–77.1calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$999 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
Runs great
est. 66.6 tok/s58.6–74.5calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$1,999 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4090
Runs great
est. 66.6 tok/s58.6–74.5calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 64k—$2,755 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Apple M5 Ultra · 96 GB
Runs great
est. 66.0 tok/s52.8–79.2calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 67.2 GBUnified memoryup to 64k——
GeForce RTX 5080
Runs great
est. 63.4 tok/s55.8–71.0calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$1,256 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 3090
Runs great
est. 61.8 tok/s54.4–69.2calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 32k—$1,050 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 3080 12GB
Runs great
est. 60.2 tok/s53.0–67.4calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k—$799 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
Runs great
est. 59.2 tok/s52.1–66.3calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$949 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop
Runs great
est. 59.2 tok/s52.1–66.3calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k——
GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop
Runs great
est. 59.2 tok/s52.1–66.3calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 24.0 GBFull GPUup to 32k——
Radeon RX 7900 XT
Runs great
est. 57.4 tok/s50.5–64.2calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 20.0 GBFull GPUup to 32k—$899 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4080 Super
Runs great
est. 48.6 tok/s42.8–54.4calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$999 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4080
Runs great
est. 47.3 tok/s41.7–53.0calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$1,199 launch MSRP
Radeon RX 9070
Runs great
est. 46.2 tok/s40.7–51.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$639 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Radeon RX 9070 XT
Runs great
est. 46.2 tok/s40.7–51.8calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$689 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Radeon RX 7800 XT
Runs great
est. 44.7 tok/s39.4–50.1calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$499 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super
Runs great
est. 44.4 tok/s39.0–49.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$799 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 5070
Runs great
est. 44.4 tok/s39.0–49.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k—$629 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop
Runs great
est. 44.4 tok/s39.0–49.7calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k——
Apple M3 Ultra · 96 GB
Runs great
est. 44.0 tok/s35.2–52.8calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 67.2 GBUnified memoryup to 32k——
Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) · 48 GB
Runs great
est. 44.0 tok/s35.2–52.8calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 33.6 GBUnified memoryup to 32k——
Apple M2 Ultra · 64 GB
Runs great
est. 43.0 tok/s34.4–51.6calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 44.8 GBUnified memoryup to 16k——
Apple M4 Max (40-core GPU) · 48 GB
Runs great
est. 39.1 tok/s31.3–47.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 33.6 GBUnified memoryup to 16k——
GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop
Runs great
est. 38.0 tok/s33.5–42.6calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k——
GeForce RTX 4070
Runs great
est. 33.3 tok/s29.3–37.3calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k—$599 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4070 Super
Runs great
est. 33.3 tok/s29.3–37.3calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k—$599 launch MSRP
Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) · 36 GB
Runs great
est. 33.0 tok/s26.4–39.6calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 25.2 GBUnified memoryup to 8k——
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
Runs well
est. 29.6 tok/s26.0–33.1calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k
  • Try IQ4_XS: Runs great
$569 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Apple M4 Max (32-core GPU) · 36 GB
Runs well
est. 29.4 tok/s23.5–35.3calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 25.2 GBUnified memoryup to 64k
  • Try IQ4_XS: Runs great
—
GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop
Runs well
est. 28.5 tok/s25.1–31.9calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k
  • Try IQ4_XS: Runs great
—
Intel Arc B580
Runs well
est. 25.4 tok/s20.3–30.5calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs great
$290 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Runs well
est. 23.8 tok/s20.9–26.6calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 12.0 GBFull GPUup to 8k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs great
$250 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
Runs well
est. 23.3 tok/s18.7–28.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.0 / 11.0 GB + 0.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 8k
  • Try IQ4_XS: Runs great
$999 launch MSRP
Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB
Runs well
est. 23.1 tok/s20.3–25.9calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs great
$449 street (as of 2026-08-09)
Apple M5 Pro · 24 GB
Runs well
est. 22.0 tok/s17.6–26.4calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 16.8 GBUnified memoryup to 32k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs great
—
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
Runs well
est. 20.4 tok/s14.3–26.5theoretical estimate ±30%
Q4_K_M11.0 / 11.0 GB + 0.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 8k
  • Try IQ4_XS: Runs great
$699 launch MSRP
NVIDIA DGX Spark · 64 GB
Runs well
est. 20.1 tok/s16.1–24.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 48.2 GBUnified memoryup to 32k—$3,999 launch MSRP (128 GB)
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Strix Halo) · 32 GB
Runs well
est. 19.8 tok/s15.8–23.8calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 22.4 GBUnified memoryup to 32k—$1,999 launch MSRP (128 GB)
Apple M4 Pro · 24 GB
Runs well
est. 19.6 tok/s15.7–23.5calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 16.8 GBUnified memoryup to 32k——
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB
Runs well
est. 19.0 tok/s16.7–21.3calibrated estimate ±12%
Q4_K_M11.3 / 16.0 GBFull GPUup to 16k—$499 launch MSRP
Apple M6 · 24 GB
Runs well
est. 12.2 tok/s9.8–14.7calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 16.8 GBUnified memoryup to 8k——
GeForce RTX 3080 10GB
Runs slowly
est. 15.9 tok/s12.8–19.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M10.0 / 10.0 GB + 1.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 32k
  • Less than 90% on the GPU — a GPU/CPU split is capped at Runs slowly
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs great
$699 launch MSRP
Apple M5 · 16 GB
Runs slowly
est. 11.0 tok/s8.8–13.2calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 11.2 GBUnified memoryup to 8k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
—
Apple M4 · 16 GB
Runs slowly
est. 8.6 tok/s6.9–10.3calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M11.2 / 11.2 GBUnified memoryup to 8k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
—
GeForce RTX 3070
Runs slowly
est. 8.4 tok/s6.7–10.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
$499 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 5060
Runs slowly
est. 8.4 tok/s6.7–10.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
$339 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB
Runs slowly
est. 8.4 tok/s6.7–10.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
$429 street (as of 2026-08-09)
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB
Runs slowly
est. 7.7 tok/s6.2–9.2calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
$399 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4060
Runs slowly
est. 7.6 tok/s6.1–9.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
$299 launch MSRP
GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop
Runs slowly
est. 7.5 tok/s6.0–9.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
—
GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop
Runs slowly
est. 7.5 tok/s6.0–9.0calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
—
GeForce RTX 3050 8GB
Runs slowly
est. 7.2 tok/s5.8–8.7calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M8.0 / 8.0 GB + 3.8 GB RAMPartial offloadup to 16k
  • Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs well
$249 launch MSRP
DDR5-6000 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB
Runs slowly
est. 4.5 tok/s3.6–5.4calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M10.6 GB RAMCPU onlyup to 8k——
DDR5-5600 dual-channel CPU · 16 GB
Runs slowly
est. 4.2 tok/s3.4–5.1calibrated estimate ±20%
Q4_K_M10.6 GB RAMCPU onlyup to 8k——
DDR4-3200 dual-channel CPU · 64 GB
Won't runTry Q2_K (heavy quality loss): Runs slowly
est. 3.5 tok/s2.8–4.2calibrated estimate ±20%
Q2_K7.4 GB RAMCPU onlyup to 8k——

Models with a thinking mode spend extra tokens thinking, so their speed thresholds are 1.5× stricter (30 / 12 / 3 tok/s). With thinking turned off, a model may do one grade better.

Cheapest GPUs that run it

  • Runs greatGeForce RTX 5070$629 street (as of 2026-08-09), est. 44.4 tok/s (39.0–49.7, calibrated estimate ±12%).
  • Runs wellGeForce RTX 3060 12GB$250 street (as of 2026-08-09), est. 23.8 tok/s (20.9–26.6, calibrated estimate ±12%).

Measured results for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B

No public measurements for this model yet.

Frequently asked questions

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B need?

At Q4_K_M the file is 8.99 GB; with 8k context a graphics card needs about 10.7 GB (weights 8.55 GB, KV cache 1.6 GB, compute buffer 0.6 GB). The smallest tracked file (Q2_K (heavy quality loss)) needs about 7.7 GB. Part of the file stays off the graphics card: llama.cpp keeps the input embedding table in system RAM. A Mac counts the whole file, so it needs a little more.

What is the cheapest GPU that runs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B well?

Cheapest that runs it great: GeForce RTX 5070 at $629 (street price as of 2026-08-09), est. 44.4 tok/s (39.0–49.7, calibrated estimate ±12%). Cheaper and still Runs well: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB at $250 (street price as of 2026-08-09), est. 23.8 tok/s (20.9–26.6, calibrated estimate ±12%).

Can DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B run on an 8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB GPU?

At Q4_K_M with 8k context: GeForce RTX 4060 — Runs slowly, est. 7.6 tok/s (6.1–9.1, calibrated estimate ±20%); GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB — Runs well, est. 29.6 tok/s (26.0–33.1, calibrated estimate ±12%); GeForce RTX 3090 — Runs great, est. 61.8 tok/s (54.4–69.2, calibrated estimate ±12%).

Speeds are estimates from memory bandwidth, calibrated against public benchmarks, and each one comes with an error band and a confidence label. Real results vary with drivers, backend, context length and thermals.