DeepSeek v3 vs Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
DeepSeek v3 leads llmrun Score 88.7 to 83.2 (ranges overlap); neither fits 24 GB.
Model A · DeepSeek
DeepSeek v3684.5B · 40.1B active · 160K context · Dec 2024
Model B · Meta
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct405.9B · Llama 3.1 Community · Jul 2024
Choose DeepSeek v3 if you want…
Higher llmrun Score
88.7 vs 83.2, ranges overlap
Ahead on the benchmarks
4 of 6 shared boards
Newer release
Dec 2024 vs Jul 2024
Choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct if you want…
Lighter on memory
267.9 vs 414.6 GB at Q4_K_M
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
DeepSeek v3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 197.4 GB
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
DeepSeek v3
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Coding
DeepSeek v3
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
no data
Science
DeepSeek v3
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
no data
Reasoning
DeepSeek v3
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
DeepSeek v3 · #71 of 100 open models · #67 of 96 that fit ≤512 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct · #76 of 100 open models · #73 of 96 that fit ≤512 GB
Benchmarks
6 shared boards: DeepSeek v3 leads 4, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct leads 2 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026
DeepSeek v3
56.5%#45/98 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Dec 2024
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
50.9%#53/98 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2024
DeepSeek v3
15.8%#56/86 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Dec 2024
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
9.7%#58/86 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2024
DeepSeek v3
75.9%#29/145 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
73.3%#34/145 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
DeepSeek v3
18.9%#24/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Dec 2024
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
23.0%#20/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2024
DeepSeek v3
64.8%#10/39 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Dec 2024
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
49.8%#15/39 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2024
DeepSeek v3
59.1#10/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Dec 2024
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
59.9#6/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2024
14 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
DeepSeek v3
1358.4#70/187 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
1335.5#86/187 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
DeepSeek v3
87.2%#1/85 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Dec 2024
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
84.5%#6/85 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2024
DeepSeek v3
85.2%#4/51 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Dec 2024
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
82.2%#7/51 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2024
Only DeepSeek v3 (9)
- Aider Polyglot48.4%
- SciCode35.8%
- SWE-bench Lite36.7%
- CritPt0.0%
- METR Time Horizons47.4%
- BIG-Bench Hard87.5%
- ARC Challenge95.3%
- HellaSwag88.9%
- TriviaQA82.9%
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
DeepSeek v3
295 GB~290.9 GB file
32K 294 GB · 128K 300 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
190 GB151.2 GB file
32K 206 GB · 128K 259 GB
Q3_K_S
DeepSeek v3
not listed
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
195 GB177.1 GB file
32K 212 GB · 128K 265 GB
Q3_K_M
DeepSeek v3
338 GB319.2 GB file
32K 336 GB · 128K 343 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
218 GB~197.8 GB file
32K 234 GB · 128K 287 GB
Q4_K_M
DeepSeek v3
415 GB404.4 GB file
32K 413 GB · 128K 420 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
268 GB~243.5 GB file
32K 284 GB · 128K 337 GB
Q5_K_M
DeepSeek v3
492 GB475.4 GB file
32K 490 GB · 128K 497 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
318 GB~289.2 GB file
32K 335 GB · 128K 387 GB
Q6_K
DeepSeek v3
569 GB550.8 GB file
32K 567 GB · 128K 574 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
368 GB~334.8 GB file
32K 385 GB · 128K 438 GB
Q8_0
DeepSeek v3
688 GB713.3 GB file
32K 687 GB · 128K 694 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
446 GB~405.9 GB file
32K 463 GB · 128K 516 GB
10 more quants
IQ2_XXS
DeepSeek v3
192 GB174.4 GB file
32K 191 GB · 128K 198 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ2_XS
DeepSeek v3
209 GB195.1 GB file
32K 208 GB · 128K 215 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ2_S
DeepSeek v3
218 GB197.0 GB file
32K 217 GB · 128K 223 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ2_M
DeepSeek v3
235 GB217.4 GB file
32K 234 GB · 128K 241 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ3_XXS
DeepSeek v3
269 GB257.9 GB file
32K 268 GB · 128K 275 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ3_XS
DeepSeek v3
286 GB272.8 GB file
32K 285 GB · 128K 292 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ3_S
DeepSeek v3
295 GB289.1 GB file
32K 294 GB · 128K 300 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ3_M
DeepSeek v3
312 GB292.1 GB file
32K 311 GB · 128K 318 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
IQ4_NL
DeepSeek v3
389 GB378.1 GB file
32K 388 GB · 128K 395 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
not listed
BF16
DeepSeek v3
1373 GB1342.3 GB file
32K 1372 GB · 128K 1379 GB
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
893 GB~811.7 GB file
32K 909 GB · 128K 962 GB
DeepSeek v3
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-V3-GGUF:Q4_K_MLlama 3.1 405B Instruct
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/MaziyarPanahi/Meta-Llama-3.1-405B-Instruct-GGUF| Spec | DeepSeek v3 | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | DeepSeek | Meta |
| Parameters | 684.5B | 405.9B |
| Active parameters | 40B per token | — |
| Architecture | DeepseekV3ForCausalLM | — |
| Context | 160K tokens | — |
| Modalities | Chat, Function-calling | Chat, Function-calling |
| License | — | Llama 3.1 Community |
| Released | Dec 2024 | Jul 2024 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, DeepSeek v3 or Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?
DeepSeek v3 leads llmrun Score 88.7 to 83.2 (ranges overlap); neither fits 24 GB. Choose DeepSeek v3 for higher llmrun Score and ahead on the benchmarks; choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct for lighter on memory.
Which needs less VRAM, DeepSeek v3 or Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?
At Q4_K_M, DeepSeek v3 requires 414.6 GB while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct needs 267.9 GB, making Llama 3.1 405B Instruct the easier model to run on your local setup.
Can I run DeepSeek v3 or Llama 3.1 405B Instruct on a 16 GB GPU?
DeepSeek v3 does not fit (smallest quant needs 189.7 GB); Llama 3.1 405B Instruct does not fit (smallest quant needs 197.4 GB).