NVIDIA A40 vs NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A40 wins 7 of 8 benchmarks, averaging 144.5% faster.
NVIDIA A40'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 Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA A40 leads by 157% (9.2 vs 3.58 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (127% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A40 runs 8 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 A40 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 160.79 | 70.88 | +127% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 106.18 | 43.08 | +146% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 57.85 | 23.35 | +148% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 26.89 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 9.2 | 3.58 | +157% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 1.95 | 0 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.31 | 0 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A40 is faster on 1 of 1; NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 17.3 min | 42.8 min | NVIDIA A40 2.48x faster | $0.101 vs $0.171 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA A40 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 A40 | $0.350 |
| NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | $0.240 |
NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation is 1.46x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 16GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 696 GB/s | 224 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,740 MHz | 2,130 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 70 W |
| Launch MSRP | $5,000 | $625 |
| Release | 2020-10-05 | 2024-02-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A40 or NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA A40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 7 of 8 benchmarks in our suite with an average 144.5% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA A40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation has 16GB VRAM and a 70W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA A40 fits 6 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation. 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 A40 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA A40 leads by roughly 157% (9.2 vs 3.58 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA A40 full review · NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings