NVIDIA A40 vs NVIDIA RTX A6000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins 8 of 8 benchmarks, averaging 22.5% 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 Z-Image Turbo, where NVIDIA RTX A6000 leads by 67% (3.225 vs 5.4 images/min); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (9% apart).
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 160.79 | 184.34 | -13% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 106.18 | 124.87 | -15% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 57.85 | 68.51 | -16% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 26.89 | 32.18 | -16% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 15.73 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 9.2 | 10.02 | -8% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 3.225 | 5.4 | -40% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 1.95 | 2.164 | -10% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A40 is faster on 0 of 2; NVIDIA RTX A6000 on 2.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 10.2 min | 7.1 min | NVIDIA RTX A6000 1.45x faster | $0.060 vs $0.039 |
| Full codebase review | 17.3 min | 14.6 min | NVIDIA RTX A6000 1.18x faster | $0.101 vs $0.080 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX A6000 finishes 2 of 2 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 A6000 | $0.330 |
NVIDIA RTX A6000 is 1.06x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 696 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,740 MHz | 1,860 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $5,000 | $4,650 |
| Release | 2020-10-05 | 2020-10-05 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A40 or NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA RTX A6000 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 8 benchmarks in our suite with an average 22.5% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA A40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A6000 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- Z-Image Turbo: NVIDIA RTX A6000 leads by roughly 67% (3.225 vs 5.4 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA A40 full review · NVIDIA RTX A6000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings