NVIDIA L4 vs NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 wins 6 of 8 benchmarks, averaging 34% faster.
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000'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 L4 leads by 450% (2.475 vs 0.45 images/min); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (19% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 runs 138 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 7, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L4 | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 84 | 127.01 | -34% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 50.45 | 84.68 | -40% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 27.46 | 46.74 | -41% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 12.42 | 21.98 | -43% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 5.18 | 6.18 | -16% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 2.475 | 0.45 | +450% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 0.171 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L4 is faster on 1 of 2; NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L4 | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 12.2 min | 54.9 min | NVIDIA L4 4.50x faster |
| Full codebase review | 36.4 min | 21.4 min | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 1.70x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L4 | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Turing (TU102) |
| Memory bandwidth | 300 GB/s | 672 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,040 MHz | 1,770 MHz |
| TDP | 72 W | 260 W |
| Launch MSRP | $2,500 | $9,999 |
| Release | 2023-03-21 | 2018-08-27 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L4 or NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 6 of 8 benchmarks in our suite with an average 34% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L4 and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- NVIDIA L4 has 24GB VRAM and a 72W TDP, while NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 has 48GB VRAM and a 260W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L4 and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 fits 24 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA L4. 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 L4 and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- Z-Image Turbo: NVIDIA L4 leads by roughly 203% (2.475 vs 0.45 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA L4 full review · NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings