Can DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B run on Radeon RX 6850M XT 12GB?

YES — With Offload

C49Usable

○Estimated from fit model

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B needs ~12.3 GB VRAM. Radeon RX 6850M XT 12GB has 12.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~20 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 12.3 GB, 20.2 tok/s, Runs with offload (needs ~0.2 GB host RAM)

12.3 GB required12.0 GB available

103% VRAM needed

0.3 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Runs with offload (needs ~0.2 GB host RAM)

Decode

20.2 tok/s

TTFT

9567 ms

Safe context

13K

Memory

12.3 GB / 12.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB

KV Cache1.6 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsDeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B on Radeon RX 6850M XT 12GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step.

Given information:
 - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour)
 - Time = 2.5 hours

Formula: Distance = Speed x Time

Calculation:
 Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h
 = 150 miles

The train travels 150 miles.

Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time.

Breakdown:
 - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles
 - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance)
 - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles

Total distance: 150 miles (same)
Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours
Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph

The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 20.2 tok/s decode · 9.6s TTFT (warm) · 51 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Best improvement path

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	C	Runs with offload	28.3 tok/s	3728 ms	13K
Coding	C	Runs with offload	20.2 tok/s	9567 ms	13K
Agentic Coding	D	Very compromised (needs ~1.2 GB host RAM)	15.5 tok/s	18119 ms	13K
Reasoning	C	Runs with offload (needs ~0.2 GB host RAM)	20.2 tok/s	11306 ms	13K
RAG	D	Very compromised (needs ~1.2 GB host RAM)	15.5 tok/s	22648 ms