DeepSeek R1 7B vs Llama 3.1 8B
Comparing VRAM requirements, performance, and capabilities for running these models locally with Ollama.
Parameters
7B
Context
128K
VRAM Range
5.7–16 GB
Recommended
Q8_0 (9 GB)
By DeepSeek · License MIT
Parameters
8B
Context
128K
VRAM Range
6.3–18 GB
Recommended
Q8_0 (10 GB)
By Meta · License Llama 3.1 Community License
VRAM Requirements by Quantization
Side-by-side memory needs at each quality level.
| Quantization | DeepSeek R1 7B | Llama 3.1 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 5.7 GB | 6.3 GB | -0.6 GB |
| Q8_0 | 9 GB | 10 GB | -1.0 GB |
| F16 | 16 GB | 18 GB | -2.0 GB |
Capabilities
Feature support comparison.
| Capability | DeepSeek R1 7B | Llama 3.1 8B |
|---|---|---|
| text generation | Yes | Yes |
| code generation | Yes | Yes |
| reasoning | Yes | — |
| math | Yes | — |
| multilingual | — | Yes |
| tool use | — | Yes |
| summarization | — | Yes |
Benchmark Scores
Higher is better. Scores from published evaluations.
| Benchmark | DeepSeek R1 7B | Llama 3.1 8B |
|---|---|---|
| mmlu | 68.5 | 73.0 |
Hardware Compatibility
Can each model run at recommended quantization on common VRAM tiers?
| VRAM | DeepSeek R1 7B | Llama 3.1 8B |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB | Offload | Offload |
| 12 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 16 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 24 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 32 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 48 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 64 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 96 GB | Runs | Runs |
Run DeepSeek R1 7B
ollama run 7b-q8_0 Run Llama 3.1 8B
ollama run 8b-instruct-q8_0 Check your exact hardware
Use the compatibility checker to see how each model performs on your specific GPU or Mac.