NVIDIA A40 vs NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
Dead heat, NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation split our benchmark suite evenly.
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 Z-Image Turbo, where NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation leads by 84% (3.225 vs 5.925 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen2.5-Coder 14B (2% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A40 runs 10 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 A40 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 160.79 | 170.72 | -6% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 106.18 | 103.18 | +3% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 57.85 | 56.66 | +2% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 26.89 | 25.88 | +4% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 9.2 | 12.74 | -28% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 3.225 | 5.925 | -46% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 1.95 | 1.286 | +52% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.31 | 0.32 | -3% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A40 is faster on 1 of 3; NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation on 2.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 10.2 min | 5.1 min | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation 1.98x faster |
| Full codebase review | 17.3 min | 17.6 min | NVIDIA A40 1.02x faster |
| 10 short social clips | 33.4 min | 27.9 min | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation 1.20x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 32GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 696 GB/s | 576 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,740 MHz | 2,550 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 250 W |
| Launch MSRP | $5,000 | $4,000 |
| Release | 2020-10-05 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA A40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 32GB VRAM and a 250W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA A40 fits 2 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX 5000 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 5000 Ada Generation?
- Z-Image Turbo: NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation leads by roughly 84% (3.225 vs 5.925 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA A40 full review · NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings