deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528 GGUF size and VRAM requirements

Reasoning Engine License: mit ⬇ 17,485 ❤ 11
Parameters684.53B
Context163,840

deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF is a very large reasoning-focused model focused on complex reasoning & stem. With approximately 684.53 billion parameters, it balances local hardware requirements with reasoning and generation fidelity. It is built on the deepseek2 architecture with a native context window of up to 163,840 tokens. The model is primarily recommended for multi-step logic deductions, mathematical problem solving, chain-of-thought analysis, and scientific research. Released under the mit license, it can be executed fully offline without sending data to external APIs.

deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF is a Mixture-of-Experts model with 256 experts, of which 8 are active on each token. Routing only 8 of 256 experts makes it noticeably faster than a dense model of the same size — but every expert still has to be held in memory, so the numbers below are set by the full parameter count, not the active one. It is built from 61 transformer layers, a hidden size of 7,168, 128 attention heads. deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF uses Multi-head Latent Attention, caching a single compressed latent per layer instead of full keys and values. That keeps the KV cache small even at long context — the memory figures on this page already reflect it.

To run bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF locally at a 4,096-token context, its quantized versions need between 138.39 GB (IQ1_M, lowest quality) and 665.37 GB (Q8_0, highest quality) of memory, weights plus KV cache and a system margin included. Context length drives that memory directly: at 4,096 tokens the KV cache for deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF is about 0.27 GB, rising to roughly 10.72 GB at its full 163,840-token context. Shorter prompts free up memory for a higher-quality quantization.

Available GGUF quantizations for bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF include IQ1_M, IQ2_XXS, IQ2_XS, IQ2_S, IQ2_M, Q2_K, Q2_K_L, IQ3_XXS, IQ3_XS, Q3_K_S, IQ3_M, Q3_K_M, Q3_K_L, Q3_K_XL, IQ4_XS, IQ4_NL, Q4_0, Q4_K_S, Q4_K_M, Q4_1, Q5_K_S, Q5_K_M, Q6_K, Q8_0. The model supports a native context length of up to 163,840 tokens; a longer context grows the KV cache and the memory needed.

→ Guide: How much VRAM do you need?

Reasoning Engine

Recommended Use Cases & Local Setup

Complex Reasoning & STEM

Ideal for: Multi-step logic deductions, mathematical problem solving, chain-of-thought analysis, and scientific research.

LM Studio

Native support for collapsing and viewing multi-step <think> reasoning tokens

Open WebUI

Rich web interface supporting reasoning models with system prompts disabled

Ollama

High-throughput local API backend

Prompting & Sampling Tip: Set temperature between 0.5 and 0.7. Do not enforce strict response schemas or system prompts that restrict the model's internal reasoning tokens.

GGUF file size and memory by quantization

Compare real GGUF weight sizes, estimated KV cache and total memory for Q4, Q5, Q8 and every quantization published in this repository.

Quant.Bits QualityWeights KVTotal Speed~Verdict
IQ1_M 1.72 Very low 137.32 GB 0.27 GB 138.39 GB Insufficient
IQ2_XXS 1.92 Very low 152.79 GB 0.27 GB 153.86 GB Insufficient
IQ2_XS 2.2 Very low 175.47 GB 0.27 GB 176.54 GB Insufficient
IQ2_S 2.22 Very low 176.61 GB 0.27 GB 177.68 GB Insufficient
IQ2_M 2.51 Very low 200.27 GB 0.27 GB 201.34 GB Insufficient
Q2_K 2.78 Low 221.5 GB 0.27 GB 222.57 GB Insufficient
Q2_K_L 2.79 Low 222.34 GB 0.27 GB 223.41 GB Insufficient
IQ3_XXS 3.13 Low 249.25 GB 0.27 GB 250.32 GB Insufficient
IQ3_XS 3.24 Low 258.11 GB 0.27 GB 259.18 GB Insufficient
Q3_K_S 3.43 Fair 273.21 GB 0.27 GB 274.27 GB Insufficient
IQ3_M 3.6 Fair 286.74 GB 0.27 GB 287.8 GB Insufficient
Q3_K_M 3.6 Fair 286.78 GB 0.27 GB 287.85 GB Insufficient
Q3_K_L 3.74 Fair 297.75 GB 0.27 GB 298.82 GB Insufficient
Q3_K_XL 3.75 Fair 298.5 GB 0.27 GB 299.57 GB Insufficient
IQ4_XS 4.21 Good 335.26 GB 0.27 GB 336.33 GB Insufficient
IQ4_NL 4.45 Good 354.35 GB 0.27 GB 355.42 GB Insufficient
Q4_0 4.52 Good 359.88 GB 0.27 GB 360.95 GB Insufficient
Q4_K_S 4.61 Good 367.08 GB 0.27 GB 368.15 GB Insufficient
Q4_K_M 4.78 Good 381.12 GB 0.27 GB 382.19 GB Insufficient
Q4_1 4.92 Good 392.12 GB 0.27 GB 393.19 GB Insufficient
Q5_K_S 5.41 Very good 431.23 GB 0.27 GB 432.3 GB Insufficient
Q5_K_M 5.59 Very good 445.49 GB 0.27 GB 446.55 GB Insufficient
Q6_K 6.46 Very good 514.51 GB 0.27 GB 515.57 GB Insufficient
Q8_0 8.34 Excellent 664.3 GB 0.27 GB 665.37 GB Insufficient

KV cache computed from the model's exact architecture. Speed is a rough estimate bounded by memory bandwidth.

Frequently asked questions

What kind of model is bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF?

bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF is a reasoning-focused model with 684.53 billion parameters, based on the deepseek2 architecture. It is released under the mit license and distributed as GGUF files for local inference.

Is bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) model?

Yes. bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF is a Mixture-of-Experts model with 256 experts, of which 8 are activated per token. That makes it faster than a dense model of the same size, but all 256 experts must be loaded into memory, so the VRAM/RAM it needs is driven by the total parameter count, not the active one.

How does bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF handle long context?

bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF uses Multi-head Latent Attention, which caches one compressed latent per layer instead of full keys and values. Its KV cache therefore grows much more slowly than a standard model of the same size, so long contexts add relatively little memory.

Can I run bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF on an 8 GB GPU?

No. bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF does not fit on an 8 GB GPU, even with the smallest quantization and system RAM offloading.

Can I run bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF on a 16 GB GPU?

No. bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF does not fit on a 16 GB GPU, even with the smallest quantization and system RAM offloading.

Can I run bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF on a 24 GB GPU?

No. bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF does not fit on a 24 GB GPU, even with the smallest quantization and system RAM offloading.

What context length does bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF support?

bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF supports a native context length of up to 163,840 tokens. A longer context grows the KV cache, so it increases the memory needed to run the model.

What is the best quantization for bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF?

For bartowski/deepseek-ai_DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF, a strong default is Q4_K_M, which needs about 382.19 GB and keeps most of the quality while roughly halving the memory versus 8-bit. With VRAM to spare, Q5_K_M or Q6_K add a little more quality; if you are tight on memory, a smaller quantization still runs. Pick the highest quantization that fits your VRAM.