Qwen 3 32B vs DeepSeek R1 32B
Comparing VRAM requirements, performance, and capabilities for running these models locally with Ollama.
Parameters
32B
Context
128K
VRAM Range
23–70 GB
Recommended
Q4_K_M (23 GB)
ByAlibaba·LicenseApache 2.0
Parameters
32B
Context
128K
VRAM Range
20.7–34 GB
Recommended
Q4_K_M (20.7 GB)
ByDeepSeek·LicenseMIT
VRAM Requirements by Quantization
Side-by-side memory needs at each quality level.
| Quantization | Qwen 3 32B | DeepSeek R1 32B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 23 GB | 20.7 GB | +2.3 GB |
| Q8_0 | 39 GB | 34 GB | +5.0 GB |
| F16 | 70 GB | — | — |
Capabilities
Feature support comparison.
| Capability | Qwen 3 32B | DeepSeek R1 32B |
|---|---|---|
| text generation | Yes | Yes |
| code generation | Yes | Yes |
| reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| multilingual | Yes | — |
| math | Yes | Yes |
| tool use | Yes | — |
| creative writing | Yes | Yes |
| summarization | Yes | — |
Benchmark Scores
Higher is better. Scores from published evaluations.
| Benchmark | Qwen 3 32B | DeepSeek R1 32B |
|---|---|---|
| mmlu | 84.0 | 83.2 |
Hardware Compatibility
Can each model run at recommended quantization on common VRAM tiers?
| VRAM | Qwen 3 32B | DeepSeek R1 32B |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB | No | No |
| 12 GB | No | No |
| 16 GB | Offload | Offload |
| 24 GB | Offload | Tight |
| 32 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 48 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 64 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 96 GB | Runs | Runs |
Run Qwen 3 32B
ollama run qwen3:32b-q4_K_MRun DeepSeek R1 32B
ollama run deepseek-r1:32b-q4_K_MCheck your exact hardware
Use the compatibility checker to see how each model performs on your specific GPU or Mac.