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DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Side-by-side VRAM requirements, benchmark scores, and GPU compatibility for local AI inference.

Quick verdict

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is more hardware-efficient: it needs 24.6 GB at its Q4_K_M build vs 50.8 GB for DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B's Q4_K_M, fitting on 70 GPUs natively.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B needs more than a consumer GPU. Run DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B on an A100 80GB from $1.19/hr ↗

Prices as of Oct 17, 2026. Rates change; check RunPod for current pricing. Affiliate link: CanItRun may earn a commission. Doesn't affect the fit calculation above.

VRAM at each quantization (8k context)

FP32
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
316.6 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
148.0 GB
BF16
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
159.8 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
75.2 GB
FP16
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
159.8 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
75.2 GB
Q8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
86.3 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
41.1 GB
Q6_K
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
67.4 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
32.3 GB
Q5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
58.8 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
28.3 GB
Q4_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
50.8 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
24.6 GB
Q3_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
40.7 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
19.9 GB
Q2_K
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
32.9 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
16.3 GB
NVFP4
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
42.2 GB
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
20.6 GB
QuantDeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70BDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32BDiff
FP32316.6 GB148.0 GB+114%
BF16159.8 GB75.2 GB+112%
FP16159.8 GB75.2 GB+112%
Q8_086.3 GB41.1 GB+110%
Q6_K67.4 GB32.3 GB+109%
Q5_K_M58.8 GB28.3 GB+108%
Q4_K_M50.8 GB24.6 GB+107%
Q3_K_M40.7 GB19.9 GB+105%
Q2_K32.9 GB16.3 GB+102%
NVFP442.2 GB20.6 GB+105%

Diff is DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B relative to DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B. Green = lower VRAM (fits more GPUs).

Model specifications

SpecDeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70BDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
OrgDeepSeekDeepSeek
Parameters70B32.5B
ArchitectureDenseDense
Context125k tokens125k tokens
Modalitiestexttext
LicenseMITMIT
CommercialYesYes
Released2025-01-202025-01-20
GPUs (native)44 / 12170 / 121

Benchmark scores

BenchmarkDeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70BDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
MMLU-Pro70.065.0
GPQA Diamond65.262.1
MATH94.594.3

Green = higher score (better). N/A = not yet available. ~ = inherited from a base model, not independently reported for that release itself.

GPUs that run only DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B(0)

Every GPU that runs DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B also runs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B.

GPUs that run only DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B(26)

GPUs that run both natively(44)

Which should you use?

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B if:
  • • You want maximum capability and have a 51 GB+ GPU
  • • Benchmark quality matters: scores 70.0 vs 65.0 on MMLU-Pro
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B if:
  • • You have limited VRAM: it's a smaller model needing 24.6 GB vs 50.8 GB

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B or DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B has 70B parameters vs 32.5B for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B, so DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B is the larger model. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is more hardware-efficient, needing 24.6 GB at its Q4_K_M build vs 50.8 GB for DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B's Q4_K_M. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B runs on more GPUs natively (70 vs 44). On MMLU-Pro, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B scores higher (70.0 vs 65.0).
How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B need vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?
At 8k context, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B needs approximately 50.8 GB of VRAM at its Q4_K_M build, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B needs 24.6 GB at its Q4_K_M build. At the largest build each ships, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B requires 159.8 GB (FP16) vs 75.2 GB (FP16) for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B.
Can you run DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B on the same GPUs as DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?
Yes, 44 GPUs can run both natively in VRAM, including NVIDIA B300 288GB, NVIDIA B200 180GB, NVIDIA H200 141GB. However, no GPU can run DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B without also fitting DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B, and 26 GPUs can run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B but not DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B.
What is the difference between DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B has 70B parameters (dense) with a 125k context window. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B has 32.5B parameters (dense) with a 125k context window.
Which model fits in 24 GB of VRAM, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B or DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?
Neither fits in 24 GB: DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B needs 50.8 GB at Q4_K_M and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B needs 24.6 GB at Q4_K_M. Both require at least a 80 GB GPU.
Full DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B page →Full DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B page →Check your hardware →