DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B needs ~25.7 GB but GTX 1080 Ti 11GB only has 11.0 GB. Try a smaller quantization or lighter model.
Operating mode
Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.
Current mode
Balanced
Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.
Select quantization to explore
14.7 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization
Fit status
Too heavy
Decode
2.4 tok/s
TTFT
81691 ms
Safe context
4K
Memory
25.7 GB / 11.0 GB
Offload
60%
Usable VRAM is the main blocker for this model.
Not enough usable memory
The model needs 25.7 GB, but this setup only exposes 11.0 GB of usable VRAM.
Older PCIe generation
PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.
Add more VRAM headroom
The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | F | Too heavy | 2.2 tok/s | 48123 ms | 4K |
| Coding | F | Too heavy | 2.2 tok/s | 88226 ms | 4K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 2.2 tok/s | 128329 ms | 4K |
| Reasoning | F | Too heavy | 2.2 tok/s | 104267 ms | 4K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 2.2 tok/s | 160411 ms | 4K |
How DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B (32B params) fits at each quantization level on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB (11.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 12.5 GB | Low | F0 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 15.7 GB | Low | F0 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Upgrade options
RTX 3090 24GBBest valueMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Raises estimated decode speed by about 783%.
~$1,499 MSRP
RTX 4090 24GBNVIDIA upgradeMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Raises estimated decode speed by about 933%.
~$1,599 MSRP
RTX 5090 32GBBudget pickMakes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$1,999 MSRP
No, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B requires more memory than GTX 1080 Ti 11GB provides.
DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B (32B parameters) requires approximately 25.7 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On GTX 1080 Ti 11GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B achieves approximately 2.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 88226ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB receives a F grade with 2.2 tok/s and 4K context.
On GTX 1080 Ti 11GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 33K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/deepseek-r1-distill-32b-on-gtx-1080-ti-11gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
| Medium |
| F0 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 19.5 GB | Medium | F0 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 23.0 GB | High | F0 |
Q6_K | 6 | 26.2 GB | High | F0 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 34.2 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 65.6 GB | Maximum | F0 |
Add more VRAM headroom. The first useful upgrade is more dedicated VRAM so you can fit the model without shrinking context or dropping to a much lower quant.
