NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 wins 4 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 6.7% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen3 32B, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by 24% (37.95 vs 30.49 tok/s); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (0% apart).
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 206.67 | 171.68 | +20% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 144.9 | 119.86 | +21% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 78.79 | 64.89 | +21% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 37.95 | 30.49 | +24% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 7.46 | 7.46 | 0% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 3.825 | 4.05 | -6% |
| 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 | 2.17 | 2.7 | -20% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.22 | 0.24 | -8% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is faster on 1 of 4; NVIDIA RTX A5000 on 3.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 8.3 min | 7 min | NVIDIA RTX A5000 1.18x faster | $0.010 vs $0.019 |
| Full codebase review | 12.7 min | 15.4 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 1.21x faster | $0.015 vs $0.041 |
| 60-second AI short film | 15.2 min | 11.8 min | NVIDIA RTX A5000 1.29x faster | $0.017 vs $0.031 |
| 10 short social clips | 42.4 min | 37.2 min | NVIDIA RTX A5000 1.14x faster | $0.049 vs $0.099 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 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 | $0.069 |
| NVIDIA RTX A5000 | $0.160 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is 2.32x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 24GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA102) | Ampere (GA102 derivative) |
| Memory bandwidth | 936.2 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,695 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 230 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,499 | $2,250 |
| Release | 2020-09-24 | 2021-04-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 or NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 4 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 6.7% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 has 24GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A5000 has 24GB VRAM and a 230W TDP.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- Qwen3 32B: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 leads by roughly 24% (37.95 vs 30.49 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 full review · NVIDIA RTX A5000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings