NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe vs NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 wins 12 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 99.7% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen-Image-Edit, where NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 leads by 139% (1.54 vs 3.68 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (56% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe runs 156 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 H100 80GB HBM3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 198.27 | 310.26 | -36% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 161.75 | 261.83 | -38% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 88.36 | 144.84 | -39% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 43.77 | 74.07 | -41% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 22.89 | 41 | -44% |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 16.8 | 34.58 | -51% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 9.3 | 22.125 | -58% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 3.964 | 9.064 | -56% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.843 | 4.264 | -57% |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 1.54 | 3.68 | -58% |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 8.51 | 17.47 | -51% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.61 | 1.33 | -54% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe is faster on 0 of 9; NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 on 9.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 3.7 min | 1.8 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 2.01x faster | $0.072 vs $0.040 |
| 60-second AI short film | 4.6 min | 2.5 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 1.83x faster | $0.090 vs $0.055 |
| 6-panel comic page | 5.9 min | 3 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 2.00x faster | $0.118 vs $0.066 |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 7.7 min | 3.7 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 2.09x faster | $0.152 vs $0.082 |
| Full codebase review | 11.3 min | 6.9 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 1.64x faster | $0.224 vs $0.154 |
| 10 short social clips | 15.7 min | 8 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 1.97x faster | $0.311 vs $0.178 |
| 20 long-form articles | 20.4 min | 11.4 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 1.79x faster | $0.404 vs $0.253 |
| 40-product photo shoot | 24.8 min | 11.1 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 2.22x faster | $0.491 vs $0.248 |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 54.7 min | 23.8 min | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 2.30x faster | $1.085 vs $0.531 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 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 H100 80GB HBM3 | $1.336 |
NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe is 1.12x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 80GB | 80GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Hopper |
| Memory bandwidth | 1935 GB/s | 3350 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,410 MHz | 1,980 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 700 W |
| Launch MSRP | $15,000 | $30,000 |
| Release | 2021-06-28 | 2022-09-20 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe or NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3?
- NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 12 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 99.7% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3?
- NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe has 80GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 has 80GB VRAM and a 700W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe and NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe fits 2 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3. 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 H100 80GB HBM3?
- Qwen-Image-Edit: NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 leads by roughly 139% (1.54 vs 3.68 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe full review · NVIDIA H100 80GB HBM3 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings