NVIDIA A40 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX A5000 wins 5 of 9 benchmarks, averaging 4.2% 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 29% (0.31 vs 0.24 frames/s); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (7% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A40 runs 8 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 A5000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 160.79 | 171.68 | -6% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 106.18 | 119.86 | -11% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 57.85 | 64.89 | -11% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 26.89 | 30.49 | -12% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 9.2 | 7.46 | +23% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 3.225 | 4.05 | -20% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 1.95 | 0 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.31 | 0.24 | +29% |
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 A5000 on 2.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 10.2 min | 7 min | NVIDIA RTX A5000 1.46x faster | $0.060 vs $0.019 |
| Full codebase review | 17.3 min | 15.4 min | NVIDIA RTX A5000 1.12x faster | $0.101 vs $0.041 |
| 10 short social clips | 33.4 min | 37.2 min | NVIDIA A40 1.11x faster | $0.195 vs $0.099 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX A5000 finishes 3 of 3 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 A5000 | $0.160 |
NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 2.19x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 24GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere (GA102 derivative) |
| Memory bandwidth | 696 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,740 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 230 W |
| Launch MSRP | $5,000 | $2,250 |
| Release | 2020-10-05 | 2021-04-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A40 or NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA RTX A5000 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 5 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average 4.2% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA A40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A5000 has 24GB VRAM and a 230W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA A40 fits 4 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX A5000. 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 A5000?
- Wan 2.2 5B (720p): NVIDIA A40 leads by roughly 7% (0.31 vs 0.24 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA A40 full review · NVIDIA RTX A5000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings