NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti vs NVIDIA L40, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 6 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 2.8% 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 Wan 2.2 5B (720p), where NVIDIA L40 leads by 37% (0.27 vs 0.37 frames/s); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (8% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA L40 runs 11 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 8, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | NVIDIA L40 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 227.54 | 211.33 | +8% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 161.02 | 135.12 | +19% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 88.25 | 74.27 | +19% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 42.18 | 34.08 | +24% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 8.42 | 11.2 | -25% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 4.35 | 5.625 | -23% |
| 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 | 3.2 | 2.61 | +23% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.27 | 0.37 | -27% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is faster on 3 of 4; NVIDIA L40 on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | NVIDIA L40 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 6.3 min | 7 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 1.10x faster | $0.029 vs $0.080 |
| 60-second AI short film | 9.9 min | 13 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 1.31x faster | $0.045 vs $0.149 |
| Full codebase review | 11.3 min | 13.5 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 1.19x faster | $0.051 vs $0.155 |
| 10 short social clips | 33.1 min | 28.2 min | NVIDIA L40 1.18x faster | $0.149 vs $0.324 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti finishes 4 of 4 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | $0.270 |
| NVIDIA L40 | $0.690 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is 2.56x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | NVIDIA L40 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA102) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 1008 GB/s | 864 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,860 MHz | 2,490 MHz |
| TDP | 450 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,999 | $7,000 |
| Release | 2022-03-29 | 2022-10-13 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti or NVIDIA L40?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 6 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 2.8% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and NVIDIA L40?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti has 24GB VRAM and a 450W TDP, while NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and NVIDIA L40?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA L40 fits 4 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 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 3090 Ti and NVIDIA L40?
- Wan 2.2 5B (720p): NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 10% (0.27 vs 0.37 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti full review · NVIDIA L40 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings