NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti vs NVIDIA RTX A5000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX A5000 wins 4 of 11 benchmarks, averaging -16.9% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen2.5-Coder 14B, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti leads by 21% (78.31 vs 64.89 tok/s); the closest fight is Llama 3.1 8B (20% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX A5000 runs 8 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 3, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 206.45 | 171.68 | +20% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 144.11 | 119.86 | +20% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 78.31 | 64.89 | +21% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 30.49 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 4.05 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 0 | 2.7 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0 | 0.24 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is faster on 1 of 1; NVIDIA RTX A5000 on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 12.8 min | 15.4 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 1.21x faster | $0.038 vs $0.041 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 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 3080 Ti | $0.180 |
| NVIDIA RTX A5000 | $0.160 |
NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 1.13x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 24GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA102) | Ampere (GA102 derivative) |
| Memory bandwidth | 912.4 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,665 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 230 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,199 | $2,250 |
| Release | 2021-06-03 | 2021-04-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA RTX A5000 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 4 of 11 benchmarks in our suite with an average -16.9% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has 12GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A5000 has 24GB VRAM and a 230W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX A5000 fits 4 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. 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 3080 Ti and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- Qwen2.5-Coder 14B: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti leads by roughly 21% (78.31 vs 64.89 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti full review · NVIDIA RTX A5000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings