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DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

1.8B parameters · 128k context · MIT License · released 2025-01-20

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In short

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is an open model from DeepSeek with 1.8B parameters. At mlx-3bit, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B needs about 2 GB of memory at 8k context and 2 GB at 32k, counting the weights, the KV cache and runtime buffers. The cheapest hardware in the UK that runs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B fully in memory at 32k context is the NVIDIA Tesla P40, £261 at eBay, at about 76 tok/s (estimated).

Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.

What to run it on in the UK

Fully in memory at 32k context, priced at retailers today.

All hardware that runs it

Everything we price, best value first. Two cards split the model by layers.

HardwareQuantFitsDecodePricetok/s per 1,000
NVIDIA Tesla P40Q8_0fits76 tok/s£261290.4
AMD Radeon RX 7600 XTQ8_0fits56 tok/s£348160.4
Intel Arc B580Q8_0fits81 tok/s£349231.0
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GBQ8_0fits79 tok/s£390202.1
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GBQ8_0fits166 tok/s£466357.1
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GBQ8_0fits62 tok/s£499124.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GBQ8_0fits98 tok/s£550178.2
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XTQ8_0fits121 tok/s£568213.2
Intel Arc A770 16GBQ8_0fits99 tok/s£588168.0
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XTQ8_0fits124 tok/s£670185.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070Q8_0fits147 tok/s£695211.5
Intel Arc Pro B60Q8_0fits81 tok/s£742108.5
Mac mini M4 16GBQ8_0fits28 tok/s£76535.9
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTQ8_0fits155 tok/s£789196.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SuperQ8_0fits110 tok/s£874126.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SuperQ8_0fits147 tok/s£950154.7
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 TiQ8_0fits196 tok/s£975201.0
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GBQ8_0fits63 tok/s£97764.5
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTXQ8_0fits186 tok/s£999186.5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080Q8_0fits210 tok/s£1,199175.1
Mac mini M4 32GBQ8_0fits28 tok/s£1,20022.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SuperQ8_0fits161 tok/s£1,429112.6
AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700Q8_0fits124 tok/s£1,67474.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090Q8_0fits205 tok/s£1,707120.0
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 TiQ8_0fits221 tok/s£2,199100.3
Mac mini M4 Pro 48GBQ8_0fits63 tok/s£3,00020.9
GMKtec EVO-X2 Ryzen AI Max+ 395 128GBQ8_0fits50 tok/s£3,32015.0
Mac Studio M4 Max 64GBQ8_0fits125 tok/s£3,39936.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090Q8_0fits392 tok/s£5,00078.4
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GBQ8_0fits188 tok/s£5,49934.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090Q8_0fits221 tok/s£6,01536.7
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GBQ8_0fits188 tok/s£8,49922.1
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 512GBQ8_0fits188 tok/s£17,49510.7
NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 BlackwellQ8_0fits392 tok/s£29,50413.3
Mac Studio M4 Max 128GBQ8_0fits125 tok/s––
Mac mini M4 Pro 64GBQ8_0fits63 tok/s––
Framework Desktop Ryzen AI Max+ 395 128GBQ8_0fits50 tok/s––
NVIDIA DGX Spark 128GBQ8_0fits60 tok/s––
ASUS Ascent GX10 128GBQ8_0fits60 tok/s––
Framework Desktop Ryzen AI Max+ 395 64GBQ8_0fits50 tok/s––

Memory needed

Weights, KV cache and runtime buffers at each context length (KV cache at fp16).

QuantFile@8k@32k@64k@128k
mlx-3bitmlx0.7 GB1.7 GB2.5 GB3.5 GB5.7 GB
mlx-4bitmlx0.9 GB1.9 GB2.7 GB3.8 GB5.9 GB
Q4_K_Mgguf1.0 GB2.0 GB2.8 GB3.9 GB6.0 GB
Q5_K_Mgguf1.2 GB2.2 GB3.0 GB4.0 GB6.1 GB
mlx-6bitmlx1.3 GB2.3 GB3.1 GB4.2 GB6.3 GB
Q6_Kgguf1.4 GB2.3 GB3.1 GB4.2 GB6.3 GB
mlx-8bitmlx1.8 GB2.7 GB3.5 GB4.6 GB6.7 GB
Q8_0gguf1.8 GB2.7 GB3.5 GB4.6 GB6.7 GB

Run it

Copy a command for the runtime you use.

  • mlx-3bit
    • LM Studiolms get mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-3bit
    • MLXmlx_lm.server --model mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-3bit
  • mlx-4bit
    • LM Studiolms get mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-4bit
    • MLXmlx_lm.server --model mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-4bit
  • Q4_K_M
    • Ollamaollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q4_K_M
    • LM Studiolms get unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF@q4_k_m
    • llama.cppllama-server -hf unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q4_K_M
  • Q5_K_M
    • Ollamaollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q5_K_M
    • LM Studiolms get unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF@q5_k_m
    • llama.cppllama-server -hf unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q5_K_M
  • mlx-6bit
    • LM Studiolms get mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-6bit
    • MLXmlx_lm.server --model mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-6bit
  • Q6_K
    • Ollamaollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q6_K
    • LM Studiolms get unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF@q6_k
    • llama.cppllama-server -hf unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q6_K
  • mlx-8bit
    • LM Studiolms get mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-8bit
    • MLXmlx_lm.server --model mlx-community/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-8bit
  • Q8_0
    • Ollamaollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q8_0
    • LM Studiolms get unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF@q8_0
    • llama.cppllama-server -hf unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q8_0

Notes

Distilled from DeepSeek-R1 onto Qwen2.5-Math-1.5B (Qwen2.5 originally Apache 2.0); the card recommends temperature 0.6, no system prompt, and forcing responses to start with "<think>\n".

Questions

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B need?
At mlx-3bit, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B needs about 2 GB of memory at 8k context and 2 GB at 32k, counting the weights, the KV cache and runtime buffers.
What is the best GPU for running DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B locally?
The cheapest hardware in the UK that runs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B fully in memory at 32k context is the NVIDIA Tesla P40, £261 at eBay, at about 76 tok/s (estimated). The best value is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB (about 166 tok/s for £466). The fastest we price is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, at about 392 tok/s.
Can I run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B on a 16 GB GPU?
Yes: at Q8_0 it fits fully in 16 GB at 32k context. On the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 it runs at about 210 tok/s (estimated).
Can I run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B on a 24 GB GPU?
Yes: at Q8_0 it fits fully in 24 GB at 32k context. On the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti it runs at about 221 tok/s (estimated).
How do I run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B locally?
With Ollama: ollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B-GGUF:Q4_K_M (the Q4_K_M build). LM Studio and llama.cpp commands are on this page.
What licence is DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B released under?
MIT License, which allows commercial use.