Can DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B run on RX 6800 XT 16GB?

YES — Tight Fit

A75Great

Estimated from fit model

DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B needs ~14.0 GB VRAM. RX 6800 XT 16GB has 16.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~36 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: TightBandwidth: 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) — 14.0 GB, 36.3 tok/s, Tight fit

14.0 GB required16.0 GB available

88% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

36.3 tok/s

TTFT

5339 ms

Safe context

27K

Memory

14.0 GB / 16.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB

KV Cache2.9 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsDeepSeek R1 Distill 14B on RX 6800 XT 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: 36.3 tok/s decode · 5.3s TTFT (warm) · 91 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	36.3 tok/s	2912 ms	27K
Coding	A	Tight fit	36.3 tok/s	5339 ms	27K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs with offload (needs ~0.5 GB host RAM)	24.2 tok/s	11618 ms	27K
Reasoning	A	Tight fit	36.3 tok/s	6310 ms	27K
RAG	B	Runs with offload (needs ~0.5 GB host RAM)	24.2 tok/s	14523 ms	27K

Quantization options

How DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on RX 6800 XT 16GB (16.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	5.5 GB	Low	A74
Q3_K_S	3	6.9 GB	Low	A75
NVFP4	4	7.8 GB	Medium	A76
Q4_K_M	4	8.5 GB	Medium	A76
Q5_K_M	5	10.1 GB	High	A76
Q6_KBest for your GPU	6	11.5 GB	High	A75
Q8_0	8	15.0 GB	Very High	F0
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 RX 6800 XT 16GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Phi-4-reasoning-plus 14B	14.7B	S	34.4 tok/s
GPT-OSS 20B	21B	A	33.2 tok/s
Codestral 2 25.08	22B	A	12.1 tok/s
CogVLM2 19B	19B	A	18.6 tok/s
Granite Code 20B	20B	B	15.1 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can RX 6800 XT 16GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B?

Yes, RX 6800 XT 16GB can run DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B with a A grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 36.3 tok/s.

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B need?

DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B (14B parameters) requires approximately 14.0 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 RX 6800 XT 16GB?

On RX 6800 XT 16GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B achieves approximately 36.3 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5339ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can RX 6800 XT 16GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B for coding?

For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B on RX 6800 XT 16GB receives a A grade with 36.3 tok/s and 27K context.

What context window can DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B use on RX 6800 XT 16GB?

On RX 6800 XT 16GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B can safely use up to 27K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 33K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for RX 6800 XT 16GB See all hardware for DeepSeek R1 Distill 14B

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