NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 vs NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 wins 9 of 11 benchmarks, averaging 333.9% 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 LTX-Video (distilled), where NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by 544% (8.95 vs 1.39 frames/s); the closest fight is Qwen3-4B (172% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation runs 135 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 5, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 193.14 | 70.88 | +172% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 157.26 | 43.08 | +265% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 86.2 | 23.35 | +269% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 43.8 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 18.576 | 3.58 | +419% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 4.264 | 0 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.993 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 8.95 | 1.39 | +544% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.66 | 0 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 is faster on 1 of 1; NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 11.7 min | 42.8 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 3.67x faster | $0.195 vs $0.171 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation finishes 1 of 1 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 RTX 2000 Ada Generation | $0.240 |
NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation is 4.17x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 40GB | 16GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 1555 GB/s | 224 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,410 MHz | 2,130 MHz |
| TDP | 400 W | 70 W |
| Launch MSRP | $12,000 | $625 |
| Release | 2020-05-14 | 2024-02-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 or NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 9 of 11 benchmarks in our suite with an average 333.9% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 has 40GB VRAM and a 400W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation has 16GB VRAM and a 70W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation fits 9 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 RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- LTX-Video (distilled): NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by roughly 544% (8.95 vs 1.39 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 full review · NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings