DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B vs Qwen3 235B A22B

Side-by-side comparison of VRAM requirements, quantization, context length, and hardware compatibility.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B

DeepSeek · 14.8B

ChatReasoning
Qwen3 235B A22B

Alibaba · 235.1B

Chat

Specifications

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14BQwen3 235B A22B
Parameters14.8B235.1B
Context131K41K
ArchitectureQwen2ForCausalLMQwen3MoeForCausalLM
LicenseMITApache 2.0
Downloads742.0K502.1K
ReleasedFeb 2025

VRAM by Quantization: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B vs Qwen3 235B A22B

QuantizationBitsDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B VRAMQwen3 235B A22B VRAM
Q2_K3.407.0 GB100.4 GB
Q3_K_M3.907.9 GB115.1 GB
Q3_K_S3.507.2 GB103.3 GB
Q4_04.008.1 GB
Q4_K_M4.809.6 GB141.6 GB
Q5_K_M5.7011.2 GB168 GB
Q6_K6.6012.9 GB194.4 GB
Q8_08.0015.5 GB235.6 GB

Verdict

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B needs less VRAM at Q4_K_M (9.6 GB vs 141.6 GB), so it fits on smaller GPUs. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B supports a longer context window (131K tokens). DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B is the more widely downloaded of the two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which needs less VRAM, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B or Qwen3 235B A22B?

At Q4_K_M, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B needs 9.6 GB and Qwen3 235B A22B needs 141.6 GB, so DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B is the lighter option to run locally.

Which has a longer context window, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B or Qwen3 235B A22B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B supports 131,072 tokens and Qwen3 235B A22B supports 40,960 tokens.

What is the difference between DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B and Qwen3 235B A22B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B is a 14.8B model from DeepSeek (Qwen family), while Qwen3 235B A22B is a 235.1B model from Alibaba (Qwen family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.