Can DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B run on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

YES — Runs Great

B55Good

Estimated from fit model

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B needs ~12.7 GB VRAM. RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~57 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: 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) — 12.7 GB, 56.7 tok/s, Runs well

12.7 GB required16.0 GB available

79% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

56.7 tok/s

TTFT

3417 ms

Safe context

48K

Memory

12.7 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB

KV Cache1.6 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB
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: 56.7 tok/s decode · 3.4s TTFT (warm) · 142 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	B	Runs well	56.7 tok/s	1864 ms	48K
Coding	B	Runs well	56.7 tok/s	3417 ms	48K
Agentic Coding	C	Tight fit	56.7 tok/s	4970 ms	48K
Reasoning	B	Runs well	56.7 tok/s	4038 ms	48K
RAG	C	Tight fit	56.7 tok/s	6213 ms	48K

Quantization options

How DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	5.5 GB	Low	C49
Q3_K_S	3	6.9 GB	Low	C51
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-unsloth--deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b-gguf && lms server start

Frequently asked questions

Can RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B?

Yes, RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB can run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 56.7 tok/s.

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B need?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B (14B parameters) requires approximately 12.7 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B?

The recommended quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B run at on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

On RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B achieves approximately 56.7 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3417ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B for coding?

For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB receives a B grade with 56.7 tok/s and 48K context.

What context window can DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B use on RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB?

On RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B can safely use up to 48K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RTX 4090 Laptop 16GB See all hardware for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B

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