Can DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B run on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

YES — Runs Great

A72Great

Estimated from fit model

DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B needs ~9.2 GB VRAM. RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~54 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: BasicBottleneck: Balanced

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

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.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 9.2 GB, 54.0 tok/s, Runs well

9.2 GB required12.0 GB available

77% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

54.0 tok/s

TTFT

3583 ms

Safe context

33K

Memory

9.2 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache2.0 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsDeepSeek R1 Distill 8B on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step.

Given information:
  - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour)
  - Time  = 2.5 hours

Formula: Distance = Speed x Time

Calculation:
  Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h
           = 150 miles

The train travels 150 miles.

Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time.

Breakdown:
  - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles
  - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance)
  - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles

Total distance: 150 miles (same)
Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours
Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph

The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 54.0 tok/s decode · 3.6s TTFT (warm) · 135 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

No major red flags

This recommendation has enough memory headroom and acceptable estimated speed for the selected workload.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	A	Runs well	54.0 tok/s	1954 ms	33K
Coding	A	Runs well	54.0 tok/s	3583 ms	33K
Agentic Coding	B	Tight fit	54.0 tok/s	5212 ms	33K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	50.3 tok/s	4552 ms	33K
RAG	B	Tight fit	54.0 tok/s	6515 ms	33K

Quantization options

How DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB (12.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	B66
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	B67
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B on your machine.

Run

ollama run deepseek-r1:8b

Your hardware

More models your RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode	Capabilities
Qwen 3.5 9B	9B	S	48 tok/s
Qwen 3 14B	14B	A	18.5 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B?

Yes, RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB can run DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 54.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B need?

DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 9.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B?

The recommended quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B run at on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B achieves approximately 54.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3583ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B for coding?

For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB receives a A grade with 54.0 tok/s and 33K context.

What context window can DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B use on RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB?

On RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B can safely use up to 33K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 33K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 3500 Ada Laptop 12GB See all hardware for DeepSeek R1 Distill 8B

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