NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 wins 10 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 102.7% 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 LTX-Video (distilled), where NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by 231% (8.95 vs 2.7 frames/s); the closest fight is Qwen3-4B (13% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX A5000 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 A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 193.14 | 171.68 | +13% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 157.26 | 119.86 | +31% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 86.2 | 64.89 | +33% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 43.8 | 30.49 | +44% |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 18.576 | 7.46 | +149% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 9.975 | 4.05 | +146% |
| 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 | 2.7 | +231% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.66 | 0.24 | +175% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 is faster on 4 of 4; NVIDIA RTX A5000 on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 3 min | 7 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.29x faster | $0.051 vs $0.019 |
| 60-second AI short film | 4 min | 11.8 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.96x faster | $0.066 vs $0.031 |
| Full codebase review | 11.7 min | 15.4 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 1.32x faster | $0.195 vs $0.041 |
| 10 short social clips | 13.7 min | 37.2 min | NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 2.72x faster | $0.228 vs $0.099 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX A5000 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 A100 40GB SXM4 | $1.000 |
| NVIDIA RTX A5000 | $0.160 |
NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 6.25x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 40GB | 24GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere (GA102 derivative) |
| Memory bandwidth | 1555 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,410 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| TDP | 400 W | 230 W |
| Launch MSRP | $12,000 | $2,250 |
| Release | 2020-05-14 | 2021-04-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 or NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 102.7% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 has 40GB VRAM and a 400W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A5000 has 24GB VRAM and a 230W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX A5000 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 A100 40GB SXM4 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- LTX-Video (distilled): NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 leads by roughly 231% (8.95 vs 2.7 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA A100 40GB SXM4 full review · NVIDIA RTX A5000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings