DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B vs Qwen3.8 27B

Qwen3.8 27B leads llmrun Score 121.5 to 97.0; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M.

Model A · DeepSeek

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

97.0llmrun Score

32.8B · 128K context · MIT · Jan 2025

ChatReasoningFunctions

Model B · Alibaba

Qwen3.8 27B

121.5llmrun Score

27.8B · 256K context · Apache 2.0 · Aug 2026

VisionFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B if you want…

Also does chat, reasoning
Qwen3.8 27B doesn't list it

Choose Qwen3.8 27B if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
121.5 vs 97.0
Fits a 12 GB GPU
IQ3_XXS · 12 GB; DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B needs 13.6 GB at its smallest quant
Lighter on memory
17.4 vs 20.5 GB at Q4_K_M
Longer context window
256K vs 128K tokens
Also does vision
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B doesn't list it
Newer release
Aug 2026 vs Jan 2025

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

MemoryDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32BQwen3.8 27B

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 13.6 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 8.8 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 13.6 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

IQ3_XXS · ~20 tok/s

12 GB · up to 16Kfits

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

IQ2_M · ~25 tok/s

15.7 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.8 27B

Q3_K_L · ~19 tok/s

15.4 GB · up to 16Kbetter quant

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Q4_K_M · ~32 tok/stight

24.3 GB · up to 8K

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~38 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 64Kmore headroom

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Q4_K_M · ~57 tok/s

24.3 GB · up to 32K

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~67 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Q4_K_M · ~24 tok/s

24.3 GB · up to 64K

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~29 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Q4_K_M · ~4 tok/s

24.3 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~5 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 128Kfaster

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/s

24.3 GB · up to 128K

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~22 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/s

24.3 GB · up to 128K

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~22 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B Qwen3.8 27B

Overall

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

97.093–101

Qwen3.8 27B

121.5119–124

Coding

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

no data

Qwen3.8 27B

112.1105–119

Math

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

no data

Qwen3.8 27B

117.5111–125

Science

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

no data

Qwen3.8 27B

112.093–131

Reasoning

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

no data

Qwen3.8 27B

124.1121–127

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B · #55 of 92 open models · #13 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Qwen3.8 27B · #10 of 92 open models · #1 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Benchmarks

The two models share no benchmark board.

18 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

Only DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B (4)

Only Qwen3.8 27B (14)

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

QuantDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32BQwen3.8 27B

Q2_K

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

14.8 GB12.3 GB file

32K 22.8 GB · 128K 48.6 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

12.6 GB10.8 GB file

32K 13.9 GB · 128K 19.3 GB

Q3_K_S

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

15.2 GB14.4 GB file

32K 23.2 GB · 128K 49.0 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

12.9 GB12.7 GB file

32K 14.2 GB · 128K 19.6 GB

Q3_K_M

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

16.8 GB15.9 GB file

32K 24.9 GB · 128K 50.6 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

14.3 GB13.4 GB file

32K 15.6 GB · 128K 21.0 GB

Q4_0

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

17.2 GB18.7 GB file

32K 25.3 GB · 128K 51.0 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

14.6 GB~13.9 GB file

32K 16.0 GB · 128K 21.4 GB

Q4_K_M

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

20.5 GB19.9 GB file

32K 28.6 GB · 128K 54.3 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

17.4 GB16.5 GB file

32K 18.8 GB · 128K 24.1 GB

Q5_K_M

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

24.2 GB23.3 GB file

32K 32.2 GB · 128K 58.0 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

20.5 GB19.8 GB file

32K 21.9 GB · 128K 27.3 GB

Q6_K

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

27.9 GB26.9 GB file

32K 35.9 GB · 128K 61.7 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

23.7 GB22.0 GB file

32K 25.0 GB · 128K 30.4 GB

Q8_0

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

33.6 GB34.8 GB file

32K 41.7 GB · 128K 67.4 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

28.5 GB29.0 GB file

32K 29.9 GB · 128K 35.2 GB

19 more quants

IQ2_XXS

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

9.9 GB9.0 GB file

32K 17.9 GB · 128K 43.7 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

8.4 GB7.3 GB file

32K 9.7 GB · 128K 15.1 GB

IQ2_XS

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

10.7 GB10.0 GB file

32K 18.7 GB · 128K 44.5 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

9.1 GB9.1 GB file

32K 10.4 GB · 128K 15.8 GB

IQ2_S

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

11.1 GB10.4 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 44.9 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

9.4 GB8.4 GB file

32K 10.8 GB · 128K 16.1 GB

IQ2_M

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

11.9 GB11.3 GB file

32K 19.9 GB · 128K 45.7 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

10.1 GB10.5 GB file

32K 11.5 GB · 128K 16.8 GB

IQ3_XXS

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

13.5 GB12.8 GB file

32K 21.6 GB · 128K 47.4 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

11.5 GB10.9 GB file

32K 12.9 GB · 128K 18.2 GB

Q2_K_S

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

13.9 GB11.5 GB file

32K 22.0 GB · 128K 47.8 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

not listed

IQ3_XS

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

14.4 GB13.7 GB file

32K 22.4 GB · 128K 48.2 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

12.2 GB10.4 GB file

32K 13.6 GB · 128K 18.9 GB

IQ3_S

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

14.8 GB14.4 GB file

32K 22.8 GB · 128K 48.6 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

12.6 GB12.0 GB file

32K 13.9 GB · 128K 19.3 GB

IQ3_M

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

15.6 GB14.8 GB file

32K 23.6 GB · 128K 49.4 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

13.3 GB14.9 GB file

32K 14.6 GB · 128K 20.0 GB

Q3_K_L

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

17.6 GB17.2 GB file

32K 25.7 GB · 128K 51.5 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

15.0 GB14.1 GB file

32K 16.3 GB · 128K 21.7 GB

IQ4_XS

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

18.5 GB17.7 GB file

32K 26.5 GB · 128K 52.3 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

15.7 GB14.3 GB file

32K 17.0 GB · 128K 22.4 GB

IQ4_NL

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

19.3 GB18.7 GB file

32K 27.3 GB · 128K 53.1 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

16.4 GB17.4 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Q4_1

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

19.3 GB20.6 GB file

32K 27.3 GB · 128K 53.1 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

16.4 GB17.5 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Q4_K_S

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

19.3 GB18.8 GB file

32K 27.3 GB · 128K 53.1 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

16.4 GB15.4 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Q4_K_L

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

20.9 GB20.4 GB file

32K 29.0 GB · 128K 54.7 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

17.8 GB18.8 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 24.5 GB

Q5_0

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

21.3 GB22.6 GB file

32K 29.4 GB · 128K 55.1 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

not listed

Q5_K_S

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

23.4 GB22.6 GB file

32K 31.4 GB · 128K 57.2 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

19.9 GB18.7 GB file

32K 21.2 GB · 128K 26.6 GB

Q5_K_L

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

24.6 GB23.7 GB file

32K 32.6 GB · 128K 58.4 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

20.9 GB21.5 GB file

32K 22.2 GB · 128K 27.6 GB

BF16

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

66.4 GB65.5 GB file

32K 74.4 GB · 128K 100 GB

Qwen3.8 27B

56.3 GB54.7 GB file

32K 57.7 GB · 128K 63.0 GB

How to run each

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B →

Qwen3.8 27B

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Qwen3.8 27B →

Specifications

Specifications of DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B and Qwen3.8 27B
Spec	DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B	Qwen3.8 27B
Publisher	DeepSeek	Alibaba
Parameters	32.8B	27.8B
Architecture	Qwen2ForCausalLM	Qwen3_5ForConditionalGeneration
Context	128K tokens	256K tokens
Modalities	Chat, Reasoning, Function-calling	Vision, Function-calling
License	MIT	Apache 2.0
Released	Jan 2025	Aug 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B or Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B leads llmrun Score 121.5 to 97.0; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M. Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B for also does chat, reasoning; choose Qwen3.8 27B for higher llmrun Score and fits a 12 GB GPU.

Which needs less VRAM, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B or Qwen3.8 27B?

At Q4_K_M, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B requires 20.5 GB while Qwen3.8 27B needs 17.4 GB, making Qwen3.8 27B the easier model to run on your local setup.

Which is faster on RTX 4090?

Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 32 tok/s for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B (Q4_K_M) and 38 tok/s for Qwen3.8 27B (Q4_K_M), so Qwen3.8 27B is faster. Estimates, ±20%.

Can I run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B or Qwen3.8 27B on a 16 GB GPU?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B fits at IQ2_M; Qwen3.8 27B fits at Q3_K_L.

Which has a longer context window, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B or Qwen3.8 27B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B supports 131,072 tokens and Qwen3.8 27B supports 262,144 tokens.