NVIDIA A40 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell wins 9 of 9 benchmarks, averaging 106.1% 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 PRO 5000 Blackwell leads by 181% (3.225 vs 9.075 images/min); the closest fight is Wan 2.2 5B (720p) (81% apart).
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 160.79 | 298.78 | -46% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 106.18 | 208.3 | -49% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 57.85 | 114.63 | -50% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 26.89 | 54.27 | -50% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 26.29 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 9.2 | 17.46 | -47% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 3.225 | 9.075 | -64% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 1.95 | 4.2 | -54% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.31 | 0.56 | -45% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA A40 is faster on 0 of 3; NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell on 3.
| Workflow | NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 10.2 min | 3.4 min | NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell 3.03x faster |
| Full codebase review | 17.3 min | 8.7 min | NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell 1.98x faster |
| 10 short social clips | 33.4 min | 16.5 min | NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell 2.02x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA A40 | NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ampere | Blackwell |
| Memory bandwidth | 696 GB/s | 1344 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,740 MHz | 2,377 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $5,000 | $4,500 |
| Release | 2020-10-05 | 2025-08-01 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA A40 or NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell?
- NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 9 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average 106.1% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell?
- NVIDIA A40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA A40 and NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell?
- Z-Image Turbo: NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell leads by roughly 181% (3.225 vs 9.075 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA A40 full review · NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings