Will It Run AI

Can DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B run on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

A77Great
Estimated from fit model

DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B needs ~29.4 GB VRAM. NVIDIA A40 48GB has 48.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~30 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: MediumStack: BasicBottleneck: Balanced
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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) — 29.4 GB, 30.0 tok/s, Runs well
29.4 GB required48.0 GB available
61% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

30.0 tok/s

TTFT

6446 ms

Safe context

33K

Memory

29.4 GB / 48.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights19.5 GB
KV Cache3.9 GB
Runtime1.2 GB
Headroom4.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsDeepSeek R1 Distill 32B on NVIDIA A40 48GB
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: 30.0 tok/s decode · 6.4s TTFT (warm) · 75 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

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatARuns well30.0 tok/s3516 ms33K
CodingARuns well30.0 tok/s6446 ms33K
Agentic CodingARuns well30.0 tok/s9375 ms33K
ReasoningARuns well30.0 tok/s7617 ms33K
RAGARuns well30.0 tok/s11719 ms33K

Quantization options

How DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B (32B params) fits at each quantization level on NVIDIA A40 48GB (48.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
12.5 GB
LowB69
Q3_K_S
3
15.7 GB
LowA70
NVFP4
4
17.9 GB
MediumA71
Q4_K_M
4
19.5 GB
MediumA71
Q5_K_M
5
23.0 GB
HighA73
Q6_K
6
26.2 GB
HighA74
Q8_0Best for your GPU
8
34.2 GB
Very HighA73
F16
16
65.6 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B on your machine.

Run

ollama run deepseek-r1:32b

Your hardware

More models your NVIDIA A40 48GB can run

ModelParamsGradeDecodeCapabilities
AlibabaQwen 3.6 35B A3B35BS69 tok/s
AlibabaQwen 3.5 35B A3B35BS75 tok/s
AlibabaQwen 2.5 VL 72B72BA7.6 tok/s
AlibabaQwen3-Coder-Next80BA19.7 tok/s
MetaLlama 3.3 70B70BA8.2 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can NVIDIA A40 48GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B?

Yes, NVIDIA A40 48GB can run DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 30.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B need?

DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B (32B parameters) requires approximately 29.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B?

The recommended quantization for DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B run at on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

On NVIDIA A40 48GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B achieves approximately 30.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 6446ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can NVIDIA A40 48GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B for coding?

For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B on NVIDIA A40 48GB receives a A grade with 30.0 tok/s and 33K context.

What context window can DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B use on NVIDIA A40 48GB?

On NVIDIA A40 48GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B 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 NVIDIA A40 48GBSee all hardware for DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B
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