NVIDIA A40 vs NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation), AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A40 wins 7 of 8 benchmarks, averaging 55.4% 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 Wan 2.2 5B (720p), where NVIDIA A40 leads by 72% (0.31 vs 0.18 frames/s); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (40% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A40 runs 8 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 6, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 160.79 | 110.18 | +46% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 106.18 | 66.59 | +59% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 57.85 | 36.34 | +59% |
| 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 | 6.56 | +40% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 1.95 | 0 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.31 | 0.18 | +72% |
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 4000 (Ada Generation) on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 17.3 min | 27.5 min | NVIDIA A40 1.59x faster | $0.101 vs $0.092 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) 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 4000 (Ada Generation) | $0.200 |
NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) is 1.75x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 20GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 696 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,740 MHz | 2,175 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 130 W |
| Launch MSRP | $5,000 | $1,250 |
| Release | 2020-10-05 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A40 or NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- NVIDIA A40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 7 of 8 benchmarks in our suite with an average 55.4% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- NVIDIA A40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) has 20GB VRAM and a 130W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA A40 fits 5 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX 4000 (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 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- Wan 2.2 5B (720p): NVIDIA A40 leads by roughly 13% (0.31 vs 0.18 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA A40 full review · NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings