---
title: "What hardware do I need to run a DeepSeek R1 distilled model locally?"  
description: "What hardware do I need to run a DeepSeek R1 distilled model locally?"  
author: "Khoa Vu"  
published: 2026-10-26  
updated: 2026-10-26  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/162926/what-hardware-do-i-need-to-run-a-deepseek-r1-distilled-model-locally  
category: "Local DeepSeek Models"  
tags: ["DeepSeek", "local models", "AI Hardware"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# What hardware do I need to run a DeepSeek R1 distilled model locally?

I’m considering running a DeepSeek R1 distilled model on my own machine, but the model sizes and hardware requirements are hard to compare. For someone choosing between a desktop GPU and a CPU-only setup, what should they check first?

I’m mainly wondering how much **system RAM or [GPU memory](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/162427/how-much-gpu-memory-do-deepseek-distilled-models-need-at-long-context-lengths)** different model sizes need for practical inference, and whether a smaller distilled model is a sensible starting point for [local use](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/546/how-to-create-local-user-in-windows-8).


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Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/162926/what-hardware-do-i-need-to-run-a-deepseek-r1-distilled-model-locally

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