NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 vs NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 wins 6 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 18.5% faster.
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4'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 LTX-Video (distilled), where NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by 90% (4.7 vs 8.95 frames/s); the closest fight is Qwen3 32B (1% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 runs 135 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 4090 | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 260.54 | 193.14 | +35% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 171.29 | 157.26 | +9% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 95.12 | 86.2 | +10% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 44.28 | 43.8 | +1% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 16.28 | 18.576 | -12% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 7.425 | 9.975 | -26% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 4.264 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 1.993 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 4.7 | 8.95 | -47% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.43 | 0.66 | -35% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is faster on 1 of 4; NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 on 3.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 5 min | 3 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.64x faster | $0.013 vs $0.051 |
| 60-second AI short film | 7.9 min | 4 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.00x faster | $0.021 vs $0.066 |
| Full codebase review | 10.5 min | 11.7 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 1.11x faster | $0.027 vs $0.195 |
| 10 short social clips | 22.7 min | 13.7 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.66x faster | $0.059 vs $0.228 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 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 4090 | $0.155 |
| NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | $1.000 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is 6.45x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 40GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 1008 GB/s | 1555 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,520 MHz | 1,410 MHz |
| TDP | 450 W | 400 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,599 | $12,000 |
| Release | 2022-10-12 | 2020-05-14 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 or NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 6 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 18.5% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has 24GB VRAM and a 450W TDP, while NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 has 40GB VRAM and a 400W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 fits 11 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4. 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 4090 and NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4?
- LTX-Video (distilled): NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by roughly 90% (4.7 vs 8.95 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 full review · NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings