How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 1.5B need?

DeepSeek R1 1.5B (1.5B parameters) requires approximately 3.3 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for DeepSeek R1 1.5B?

The recommended quantization for DeepSeek R1 1.5B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

Can it run?

Yes, GTX 1650 4GB can run DeepSeek R1 1.5B with a C grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 92.2 tok/s.

CUsable

Tight fit

Using Q4_K_M in Ollama

Capabilities:

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

92.2 tok/s

TTFT

2101 ms

Safe context

19K

Memory

3.3 GB / 4.0 GB

Weights0.9 GB

KV Cache0.8 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom0.4 GB

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Agentic Coding	C	Tight fit	64.0 tok/s	4400 ms	33K
Chat	C	Tight fit	64.0 tok/s	1650 ms	10K
Coding	C	Tight fit	92.2 tok/s	2101 ms	19K
RAG	C	Tight fit	64.0 tok/s	5500 ms	33K
Reasoning	C	Tight fit	64.0 tok/s	3575 ms	19K

How DeepSeek R1 1.5B (1.5B params) fits at each quantization level on GTX 1650 4GB (4.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	0.6 GB	Low	D32
Q3_K_S	3	0.7 GB	Low	D32
NVFP4	4

Ollama

ollama run deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-1.5b

HuggingFace

huggingface-cli download deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-1.5b

Upgrade options

RTX 2060 6GBBudget pick

C191.5 tok/s decode

~$349 MSRP

Intel Arc A380 6GBBiggest leap

C91.1 tok/s decode

GTX 1060 6GBNVIDIA upgrade

C113.3 tok/s decode