NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 vs NVIDIA L40, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 11 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 151% faster.
NVIDIA L40's numbers are anchored estimates calibrated against our measured cards, pending first-party measurement. Treat small gaps as ties.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA L40 leads by 281% (2.94 vs 11.2 images/min); the closest fight is Llama 3.1 8B (107% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA L40 runs 11 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 4, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA L40 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 102.04 | 211.33 | -52% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 65.36 | 135.12 | -52% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 35.52 | 74.27 | -52% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 34.08 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 2.94 | 11.2 | -74% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 5.625 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 2.464 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 1.114 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0.48 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 0 | 2.61 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0 | 0.37 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is faster on 0 of 1; NVIDIA L40 on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA L40 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 28.2 min | 13.5 min | NVIDIA L40 2.09x faster | $0.016 vs $0.155 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 finishes 1 of 1 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | $0.034 |
| NVIDIA L40 | $0.690 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 20.29x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA L40 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA106) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 864 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,777 MHz | 2,490 MHz |
| TDP | 170 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $329 | $7,000 |
| Release | 2021-02-25 | 2022-10-13 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or NVIDIA L40?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 11 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 151% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA L40?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM and a 170W TDP, while NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA L40?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA L40 fits 8 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060. A model that exceeds VRAM doesn't run slower, it doesn't run at all, so the card that fits the model wins that workload outright.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and NVIDIA L40?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 281% (2.94 vs 11.2 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 full review · NVIDIA L40 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings