NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 vs NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 wins 7 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 3.9% 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 Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by 11% (18.576 vs 16.8 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3-32B (0% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe runs 135 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 12, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 193.14 | 198.27 | -3% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 157.26 | 161.75 | -3% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 86.2 | 88.36 | -2% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 43.8 | 43.77 | 0% |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 0 | 22.89 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 18.576 | 16.8 | +11% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 9.975 | 9.3 | +7% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 4.264 | 3.964 | +8% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.993 | 1.843 | +8% |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 1.54 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 8.95 | 8.51 | +5% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.66 | 0.61 | +8% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 is faster on 7 of 8; NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 3 min | 3.7 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.20x faster | $0.051 vs $0.072 |
| 60-second AI short film | 4 min | 4.6 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.15x faster | $0.066 vs $0.090 |
| 6-panel comic page | 4.8 min | 5.9 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.24x faster | $0.080 vs $0.118 |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 6.3 min | 7.7 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.22x faster | $0.104 vs $0.152 |
| Full codebase review | 11.7 min | 11.3 min | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe 1.03x faster | $0.195 vs $0.224 |
| 10 short social clips | 13.7 min | 15.7 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.15x faster | $0.228 vs $0.311 |
| 40-product photo shoot | 22.2 min | 24.8 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.11x faster | $0.370 vs $0.491 |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 50.2 min | 54.7 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.09x faster | $0.836 vs $1.085 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 finishes 8 of 8 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | $1.000 |
| NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | $1.190 |
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 is 1.19x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 40GB | 80GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 1555 GB/s | 1935 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,410 MHz | 1,410 MHz |
| TDP | 400 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $12,000 | $15,000 |
| Release | 2020-05-14 | 2021-06-28 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 or NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 7 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 3.9% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 has 40GB VRAM and a 400W TDP, while NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe has 80GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe fits 15 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 A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by roughly 11% (18.576 vs 16.8 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 full review · NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings