Can DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B run on Tesla P40 24GB?

YES — Runs Great

A76Great

Estimated from fit model

DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B needs ~15.1 GB VRAM. Tesla P40 24GB has 24.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~26 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) — 15.1 GB, 25.8 tok/s, Runs well

15.1 GB required24.0 GB available

63% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

25.8 tok/s

TTFT

7499 ms

Safe context

33K

Memory

15.1 GB / 24.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB

KV Cache2.9 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom2.4 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsDeepSeek R1 Distill 14B on Tesla P40 24GB
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: 25.8 tok/s decode · 7.5s TTFT (warm) · 65 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Older PCIe generation

PCIe 3.0 is workable, but it compounds the penalty when you offload heavily or try to scale across multiple cards.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	A	Runs well	25.8 tok/s	4090 ms	33K
Coding	A	Runs well	25.8 tok/s	7499 ms	33K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	25.8 tok/s	10908 ms	33K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	25.8 tok/s	8863 ms	33K
RAG	A	Runs well	25.8 tok/s	13635 ms	33K

Quantization options

How DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on Tesla P40 24GB (24.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	5.5 GB	Low	A70
Q3_K_S	3	6.9 GB	Low	A71
NVFP4	4	7.8 GB	Medium	A72
Q4_K_M	4	8.5 GB	Medium	A72
Q5_K_M	5	10.1 GB	High	A73
Q6_K	6	11.5 GB	High	A74
Q8_0Best for your GPU	8	15.0 GB	Very High	A74
F16	16	28.7 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

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

Run

ollama run deepseek-r1

Your hardware

More models your Tesla P40 24GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	S	30.9 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 27B	27B	S	13.4 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 27B	27B	S	13.4 tok/s
Qwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct	30B	S	31.9 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 35B A3B	35B	A	16.7 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can Tesla P40 24GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B?

Yes, Tesla P40 24GB can run DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 25.8 tok/s.

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B need?

DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B (14B parameters) requires approximately 15.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

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

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

What speed will DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B run at on Tesla P40 24GB?

On Tesla P40 24GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B achieves approximately 25.8 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 7499ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can Tesla P40 24GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B for coding?

For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B on Tesla P40 24GB receives a A grade with 25.8 tok/s and 33K context.

What context window can DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B use on Tesla P40 24GB?

On Tesla P40 24GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B 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 Tesla P40 24GB See all hardware for DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B

Embed this result▼

Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.

<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/deepseek-r1-distill-14b-on-tesla-p40-24gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>

Preview: