# Can I run DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B on Apple M3 Ultra (256GB)?

> **Yes, it runs.** Runs at Q4_K_M using ~10.7 GB of ~192 GB usable. You have room for FP16 for higher quality.

Last validated: 2026-06-15.

## Memory math
- DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B: 14B; Q4_K_M weighs 8.99 GB on disk.
- At Q4_K_M with a 4k context it needs ~10.7 GB (weights + KV cache + ~0.8 GB runtime overhead, ±15% with context length).
- Apple M3 Ultra (256GB): 256 GB unified, ~192 GB usable for model weights.
- Headroom: ~181.3 GB; it also fits FP16 for higher quality.

## How to run
Recommended quant: Q4_K_M. Best tool on macOS: LM Studio.

```sh
ollama run deepseek-r1:14b
```

## Run DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B on other devices
- [Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b/nvidia-rtx-3060-12gb)
- [Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b/nvidia-rtx-4070-12gb)
- [Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti (16GB)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b/nvidia-rtx-4060-ti-16gb)
- [Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b/nvidia-rtx-4080-16gb)
- [16GB RAM Laptop (CPU/iGPU only)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b/laptop-16gb)
- [iPad Pro M4 (16GB, 1TB/2TB config)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b/ipad-pro-m4-16gb)

## Other models that run on Apple M3 Ultra (256GB)
- [Qwen3 235B A22B (235B)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/qwen3-235b-a22b/apple-m3-ultra-256gb)
- [gpt-oss 120B (117B)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/gpt-oss-120b/apple-m3-ultra-256gb)
- [Llama 4 Scout (109B)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/llama-4-scout/apple-m3-ultra-256gb)
- [Sarvam-105B (105B)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/sarvam-105b/apple-m3-ultra-256gb)
- [Qwen2.5 72B (72B)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/qwen2.5-72b/apple-m3-ultra-256gb)
- [Llama 3.3 70B (70B)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/llama-3.3-70b/apple-m3-ultra-256gb)

Estimate, not a guarantee. Sources: https://ollama.com/library/deepseek-r1, https://huggingface.co/bartowski/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-14B-GGUF, https://github.com/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1.
More: https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b/apple-m3-ultra-256gb