NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 vs NVIDIA L40S, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40S wins 8 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 2.2% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in LTX-Video (distilled), where NVIDIA L40S leads by 70% (4.7 vs 8.01 frames/s); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (5% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 runs 152 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 L40S | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 260.54 | 212.05 | +23% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 171.29 | 135.51 | +26% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 95.12 | 74.6 | +28% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 44.28 | 34.44 | +29% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 16.49 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 16.28 | 17.02 | -4% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 7.425 | 8.325 | -11% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 3.836 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 1.693 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 1.06 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 4.7 | 8.01 | -41% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.43 | 0.49 | -12% |
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 L40S on 3.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA L40S | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 5 min | 4.1 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.23x faster | $0.013 vs $0.053 |
| 60-second AI short film | 7.9 min | 4.9 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.61x faster | $0.021 vs $0.065 |
| Full codebase review | 10.5 min | 13.5 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 1.28x faster | $0.027 vs $0.177 |
| 10 short social clips | 22.7 min | 19.1 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.19x faster | $0.059 vs $0.251 |
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 L40S | $0.790 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is 5.10x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA L40S | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 1008 GB/s | 864 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,520 MHz | 2,520 MHz |
| TDP | 450 W | 350 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,599 | $7,500 |
| Release | 2022-10-12 | 2023-08-08 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 or NVIDIA L40S?
- NVIDIA L40S performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 2.2% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA L40S?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has 24GB VRAM and a 450W TDP, while NVIDIA L40S has 48GB VRAM and a 350W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA L40S?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 fits 4 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA L40S. 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 L40S?
- LTX-Video (distilled): NVIDIA L40S leads by roughly 70% (4.7 vs 8.01 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 full review · NVIDIA L40S full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings