NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 vs NVIDIA RTX A6000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins 8 of 9 benchmarks, averaging 36.6% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA RTX A6000 leads by 111% (4.76 vs 10.02 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (0% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX A6000 runs 9 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 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 184.08 | 184.34 | -0% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 125.85 | 124.87 | +1% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 0 | 68.51 | n/a |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 32.18 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 15.73 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 4.76 | 10.02 | -52% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 5.4 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 2.164 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 1.05 | n/a |
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 | $0.029 |
| NVIDIA RTX A6000 | $0.330 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is 11.38x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 10GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA102) | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 760 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,710 MHz | 1,860 MHz |
| TDP | 320 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $699 | $4,650 |
| Release | 2020-09-17 | 2020-10-05 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA RTX A6000 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average 36.6% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 has 10GB VRAM and a 320W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A6000 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX A6000 fits 9 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. 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 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA RTX A6000 leads by roughly 111% (4.76 vs 10.02 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 full review · NVIDIA RTX A6000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings