NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 vs NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 wins 10 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 96.7% 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 FLUX.1 dev, where NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by 232% (4.264 vs 1.286 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3-4B (13% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation runs 135 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 10, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 193.14 | 170.72 | +13% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 157.26 | 103.18 | +52% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 86.2 | 56.66 | +52% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 43.8 | 25.88 | +69% |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 18.576 | 12.74 | +46% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 9.975 | 5.925 | +68% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 4.264 | 1.286 | +232% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.993 | 0.793 | +151% |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 8.95 | 3.23 | +177% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.66 | 0.32 | +106% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 is faster on 8 of 8; NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 3 min | 5.1 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.69x faster |
| 60-second AI short film | 4 min | 9.5 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.38x faster |
| 6-panel comic page | 4.8 min | 12.8 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.66x faster |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 6.3 min | 16 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.56x faster |
| Full codebase review | 11.7 min | 17.6 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.51x faster |
| 10 short social clips | 13.7 min | 27.9 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.04x faster |
| 40-product photo shoot | 22.2 min | 53.7 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.42x faster |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 50.2 min | 2 h 6 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.51x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 40GB | 32GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 1555 GB/s | 576 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,410 MHz | 2,550 MHz |
| TDP | 400 W | 250 W |
| Launch MSRP | $12,000 | $4,000 |
| Release | 2020-05-14 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 or NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 96.7% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 has 40GB VRAM and a 400W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 32GB VRAM and a 250W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation fits 13 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 5000 Ada Generation?
- FLUX.1 dev: NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by roughly 232% (4.264 vs 1.286 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 full review · NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings