Can DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B run on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB?

YES — Runs Great

A73Great

Estimated from fit model

DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B needs ~37.1 GB VRAM. AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB has 128.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~138 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: HighStack: 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) — 37.1 GB, 138.1 tok/s, Runs well

37.1 GB required128.0 GB available

29% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

138.1 tok/s

TTFT

1402 ms

Safe context

33K

Memory

37.1 GB / 128.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights19.5 GB

KV Cache3.9 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom12.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsDeepSeek R1 Distill 32B on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB
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: 138.1 tok/s decode · 1.4s TTFT (warm) · 345 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	138.1 tok/s	765 ms	33K
Coding	A	Runs well	138.1 tok/s	1402 ms	33K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	138.1 tok/s	2039 ms	33K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	138.1 tok/s	1657 ms	33K
RAG	A	Runs well	138.1 tok/s	2549 ms	33K

Inference speed

DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~66 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.

GPU / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q4_K_M	66.4	Tight
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	33.2	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	33.2	Fits
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q4_K_M	30.8	Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	25.7	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	24.8	Heavy offload
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	24.3	Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	22.9	Heavy offload
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	21.2	Heavy offload
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	20.9	Tight
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	13.3	Fits
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	12.2	Fits
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q4_K_M	9.0	Too big
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	3.1	Too big
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q4_K_M; real tokens/sec varies with prompt length, context, batch size, and runtime build. Prompt processing (prefill) is faster than the decode figures shown here.

Quantization options

How DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B (32B params) fits at each quantization level on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB (128.0 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	12.5 GB	Low	B64
Q3_K_S	3	15.7 GB	Low	B64
NVFP4	4	17.9 GB	Medium	B64
Q4_K_M	4	19.5 GB	Medium	B64
Q5_K_M	5	23.0 GB	High	B65
Q6_K	6	26.2 GB	High	B65
Q8_0	8	34.2 GB	Very High	B67
F16Best for your GPU	16	65.6 GB	Maximum	A72

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 AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Devstral 2 123B Instruct	123B	S	36.2 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 122B A10B	122B	S	100.3 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B	35B	S	317.2 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 35B A3B	35B	S	344.9 tok/s
Mistral Small 4 119B	119B	S	108.8 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B?

Yes, AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB can run DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 138.1 tok/s.

How much VRAM does DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B need?

DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B (32B parameters) requires approximately 37.1 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 AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB?

On AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B achieves approximately 138.1 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 1402ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB run DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B for coding?

For coding workloads, DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB receives a A grade with 138.1 tok/s and 33K context.

What context window can DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B use on AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB?

On AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB, 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 AMD Instinct MI250X 128GB See all hardware for DeepSeek R1 Distill 32B

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