Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe or NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?

NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 4.3% advantage.

What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?

NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe has 80GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 has 80GB VRAM and a 400W TDP.

Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?

For AI, yes, NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe fits 2 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA A100 80GB 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 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?

Wan 2.2 5B (720p): NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 leads by roughly 5% (0.61 vs 0.66 frames/s) in our testing.

NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe vs NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4, AI & Machine Learning Comparison

NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 wins 10 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 4.3% faster.

Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.

What the numbers say

The gap is widest in Wan 2.2 5B (720p), where NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 leads by 8% (0.61 vs 0.66 frames/s); the closest fight is Llama 3.1 8B (1% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe runs 155 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 80GB PCIe	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4	Difference
Qwen3 4B tok/s	198.27	197	+1%
Llama 3.1 8B tok/s	161.75	162.57	-1%
Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s	88.36	89.45	-1%
Qwen3 32B tok/s	43.77	45.53	-4%
Llama 3.3 70B tok/s	22.89	24.4	-6%
Stable Diffusion XL images/min	16.8	16.36	+3%
Z-Image Turbo images/min	9.3	9.975	-7%
FLUX.1 dev images/min	3.964	4.264	-7%
FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min	1.843	1.993	-8%
Qwen-Image-Edit images/min	1.54	1.64	-6%
LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s	8.51	8.95	-5%
Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s	0.61	0.66	-8%

Whole-job comparison

How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe is faster on 3 of 9; NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 on 6.

Workflow	NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4	Difference	Cost per run
24-frame storyboard	3.7 min	3.7 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe 1.01x faster	$0.072 vs $0.085
60-second AI short film	4.6 min	4.7 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe 1.02x faster	$0.090 vs $0.108
6-panel comic page	5.9 min	6 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe 1.01x faster	$0.118 vs $0.139
Character sheet, 12 poses	7.7 min	7.6 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 1.01x faster	$0.152 vs $0.175
Full codebase review	11.3 min	11.2 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 1.01x faster	$0.224 vs $0.259
10 short social clips	15.7 min	15.1 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 1.04x faster	$0.311 vs $0.350
20 long-form articles	20.4 min	19.1 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 1.07x faster	$0.404 vs $0.443
40-product photo shoot	24.8 min	23.5 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 1.06x faster	$0.491 vs $0.543
100-photo restoration batch	54.7 min	50.8 min	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 1.08x faster	$1.085 vs $1.177

Renting by the hour, NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe finishes 9 of 9 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.

Cost to rent

Card	Per hour
NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe	$1.190
NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4	$1.390

NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe is 1.17x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.

Specifications compared

	NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe	NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4
VRAM	80GB	80GB
Architecture	Ampere	Ampere
Memory bandwidth	1935 GB/s	2039 GB/s
Boost clock	1,410 MHz	1,410 MHz
TDP	300 W	400 W
Launch MSRP	$15,000	$17,000
Release	2021-06-28	2020-11-16

FAQ

Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe or NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?: NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 4.3% advantage.
What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe has 80GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 has 80GB VRAM and a 400W TDP.
Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?: For AI, yes, NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe fits 2 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA A100 80GB 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 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4?: Wan 2.2 5B (720p): NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 leads by roughly 5% (0.61 vs 0.66 frames/s) in our testing.

NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe full review · NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM4 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings