DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B on Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S (16 GB)

Can the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S (16 GB) run DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B?

Yes, but slowly

Slow. At Q5_K_M it needs about 8.7 GB of 13.6 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 3.5 tok/s.

Best quant: Q5_K_M
Generation speed: 3.5 tok/s
Prompt processing: 14.7 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 69.9 s
Largest safe context: 40K

Best app to run it on the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S (16 GB)

On Linux on ARM boards

Ollama

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.

ollama run deepseek-r1:8b

LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

How we choose: the files published for this model, your operating system and GPU, whether it fits fully in memory, and published speed tests (MLX vs llama.cpp on Apple silicon, vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama on NVIDIA). Details.

Download DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B

Recommended for the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S (16 GB): Q5_K_M. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quickest · Ollama

One command downloads a ready-to-run version and starts a chat.

Get Ollama at ollama.com/download (opens in a new tab) · model page (opens in a new tab)

ollama run deepseek-r1:8b

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

Download the Q5_K_M file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B-GGUF:Q5_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from DeepSeek, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Official repo · GitHub

Reference code, inference scripts and docs from DeepSeek. The weights themselves download from Hugging Face.

github.com/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1 (opens in a new tab)

The R1 repo covers the distilled models too.

git clone https://github.com/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1

Links checked 3 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 60Good quality (B) · 60 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q5_K_M, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Slow: How well it runs on the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S (16 GB): speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

Model qualityEditorial quality tier of the model, scaled by the quantization or precision used.	27.1 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when the model fits in the share of unified memory the GPU can use; fewer when it goes past that limit.	25.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.	4.4 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.	14.8 / 15
Match score	71.3 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S (16 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q2_K`	6.2 GB	13.6 GB	6.9 tok/s	Slow	43Fair quality (C) · 43 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 61/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	6.9 GB	13.6 GB	5.5 tok/s	Slow	52Fair quality (C) · 52 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	7.9 GB	13.6 GB	4.2 tok/s	Slow	58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 69/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	8.7 GB	13.6 GB	3.5 tok/s	Slow	60Good quality (B) · 60 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	9.6 GB	13.6 GB	2.9 tok/s	Very slow	61Good quality (B) · 61 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	11.6 GB	13.6 GB	2.1 tok/s	Very slowtight fit	62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	19.3 GB	13.6 GB	—	Won't run	62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 8/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab) Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 8K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 82/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Q8_0 · 42.1 tok/s · Runs great
62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 82/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Q8_0 · 51.3 tok/s · Runs great
62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 82/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Q8_0 · 56.2 tok/s · Runs great
62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 82/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Q8_0 · 68.4 tok/s · Runs great
62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 82/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Q8_0 · 73.2 tok/s · Runs great
61Good quality (B) · 61 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 82/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Q6_K · 52.4 tok/s · Runs great

Quick answers

How much memory does DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B need on the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S 16GB?

At Q5_K_M it needs about 8.7 GB. The Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S 16GB has 13.6 GB usable.

How fast is DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B on the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S 16GB?

About 3.5 tok/s at Q5_K_M, an estimate from the hardware’s memory bandwidth and the size of the model.

Which quantization of DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B should I use on the Rockchip RK3588 / RK3588S 16GB?

Q5_K_M. Of the versions that fit, it is the one that runs best; when two run equally well, the check prefers the higher-rated one.

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.