MAI DS R1 — Hardware Requirements & GPU Compatibility
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MAI DS R1 is a 671.0B-parameter open language model from Microsoft. It supports a context window of up to 163,840 tokens. At Q4_K_M it needs about 406.50 GB of VRAM — see which GPUs and Macs can run it below.
MAI DS R1 runs on a 512 GB+ Mac or a multi-GPU server
Best local pick → Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB) · Q4_K_M · 404.1 GB · ~25 tok/s
Macs from 512 GB (Q4_K_M · ~25 tok/s)
MIT
Not set up for it?
Reference GPU · RTX 4090 24 GB
Estimates, ±20% · how we estimate
Run MAI DS R1
One recommended way. Every other method, OS and quant is in the step-by-step guide.
Recommended
vllm serve microsoft/MAI-DS-R1 --max-model-len 16384 --tensor-parallel-size 8Size the nodes from the table above
Download: Weights on Hugging Face
Other ways
each opens step-by-stepRun in cloud
Rent 6× H100 SXM · Q4_K_M
- Estimated hourly price
- ~$13.27/hr
- est., whole server
- GPUs
- 6 GPUs
- 480 GB of VRAM
How Much VRAM Does MAI DS R1 Need?
Select a quantization level; the listed hardware adheres to it.
| Quantization | VRAM | +32K | Runs on | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 289.1 GB | 287.8 GB | 2-bit · K-quant — 2-bit quantization with K-quant improvements | Runs on Instinct MI350X 288 GB | |
| 331.0 GB | 329.7 GB | 3-bit medium — 3-bit medium quantization | Runs on 5× H100 SXM 80 GB | |
| 406.5 GB | 405.2 GB | 4-bit medium — 4-bit medium quantization — most popular sweet spot | Runs on 6× H100 SXM 80 GB | |
| 482.0 GB | 480.7 GB | 5-bit medium — 5-bit medium quantization — good quality/size tradeoff | Runs on 7× H100 SXM 80 GB | |
| 557.5 GB | 556.2 GB | 6-bit, very good — 6-bit quantization, very good quality | Runs on 8× H100 SXM 80 GB | |
| 674.9 GB | 673.6 GB | 8-bit, near-lossless — 8-bit quantization, near-lossless | Runs on 6× H200 SXM 141 GB | |
| 1345.9 GB | 1344.7 GB | 16-bit · bfloat — Brain floating point 16 — preferred for training | Runs on 8× B200 192 GB |
Selected Q4_K_M
4-bit medium quantization404.1GBat 16K context
- Weights
- 402.6 GB
- KV cache
- 1.2 GB
- Overhead
- 0.3 GB
Server-class: ~404.1 GB at 16K context · about 6× H100 SXM 80 GB
Which Hardware Can Run MAI DS R1?
Q4_K_M · 406.5 GBMAI DS R1 (Q4_K_M) requires 406.5 GB of VRAM to load the model weights. For comfortable inference with headroom for KV cache and system overhead, 529+ GB is recommended. Using the full 164K context window can add up to 7.9 GB, bringing total usage to 414.4 GB. No consumer GPU has enough memory. 1 device with unified memory can run MAI DS R1, including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB).
Needs server-class hardware
MAI DS R1 runs on a 512 GB+ Mac or a multi-GPU server · Q4_K_M needs ~404.1 GB
| Hardware | Quant | Memory | Speed | Context | Hardware page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac 512 GB · Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB) | Q4_K_M | 404.1 GB | ~25 tok/s | 160K ctx | Mac Studio → | Q4_K_M · 404.1 GB · ~25 tok/s · 160K ctx |
| 6× H100 SXM 80 GB · 480 GB | Q4_K_M | 404.1 GB | — | 160K ctx | H100 SXM → | Q4_K_M · 404.1 GB · 160K ctx |
| 4× H200 SXM 141 GB · 564 GB | Q4_K_M | 404.1 GB | — | 160K ctx | H200 SXM → | Q4_K_M · 404.1 GB · 160K ctx |
| 3× B200 192 GB · 576 GB | Q4_K_M | 404.1 GB | — | 160K ctx | B200 → | Q4_K_M · 404.1 GB · 160K ctx |
Also: Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB) · NVIDIA DGX A100 640GB · NVIDIA DGX H100
By VRAM tier · typical GPUs and Macs at Q4_K_M
Consumer GPUs (up to 32 GB) and Macs up to 256 GB: too small for this model (needs ≥ 286.6 GB)8 GB tier →12 GB tier →16 GB tier →24 GB tier →Macs →
Similar models
3| Model | Score | VRAM | tok/s | Why it is similar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V3.2DeepSeek | 110.4 | 412.7 GB | —needs > 24 GB | same size |
| DeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeek | 103.7 | 412.2 GB | —needs > 24 GB | same size |
| Mistral Large 3 675B Instruct 2512Mistral AI | 89.6 | 454.4 GB | —needs > 24 GB | same size |
Specifications
- Publisher
- Microsoft
- Parameters
- 671.0B
- Active parameters
- 26.6B per token
- Architecture
- DeepseekV3ForCausalLM
- Context Length
- 163,840 tokens
- Vocabulary Size
- 129,280
- Release Date
- 2025-04-16
- License
- MIT
Frequently Asked Questions
How much VRAM does MAI DS R1 need?
MAI DS R1 requires 406.5 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M, or 1345.9 GB at BF16. Full 164K context adds up to 7.9 GB (414.4 GB total).
VRAM = Weights + KV Cache + Overhead
Weights = 671.0B × 4.8 bits ÷ 8 = 402.6 GB
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 3.9 GB (at 2K context + ~0.3 GB framework)
Fit ratings and hardware model lists check this model with room for a 16K-token context, which needs a little more memory.
KV Cache + Overhead ≈ 11.8 GB (at full 164K context)
VRAM usage by quantization
Can NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 run MAI DS R1?
No — MAI DS R1 requires at least 289.1 GB at Q2_K, which exceeds the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM.
What's the best quantization for MAI DS R1?
For MAI DS R1, Q4_K_M (406.5 GB) offers the best balance of quality and VRAM usage. Q5_K_M (482.0 GB) provides better quality if you have the VRAM. The smallest option is Q2_K at 289.1 GB.
VRAM requirement by quantization
★ Recommended — best balance of quality and VRAM usage.
Can I run MAI DS R1 on a Mac?
Yes — Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB) and above can run MAI DS R1. Apple Silicon uses unified memory, so the model shares RAM with the system. At Q4_K_M you need at least 406.5 GB of usable unified memory (RAM minus macOS overhead).
Can I run MAI DS R1 locally?
Yes — MAI DS R1 can run locally on consumer hardware. Popular tools include Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp.
What's the download size of MAI DS R1?
At Q4_K_M, the download is about 402.62 GB. The full-precision BF16 version is 1342.05 GB. The smallest option (Q2_K) is 285.19 GB.
Which GPUs can run MAI DS R1?
No single consumer GPU has enough VRAM to run MAI DS R1 at Q4_K_M (406.5 GB). Multi-GPU or professional hardware is required.
Which devices can run MAI DS R1?
1 device with unified memory can run MAI DS R1 at Q4_K_M (406.5 GB), including Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB). Apple Silicon Macs use unified memory shared between CPU and GPU, making them well-suited for local LLM inference.