NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 10 of 11 benchmarks, averaging 186.1% faster.
NVIDIA L40'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 Qwen2.5-Coder 14B, where NVIDIA L40 leads by 218% (74.27 vs 23.35 tok/s); the closest fight is LTX-Video (distilled) (88% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA L40 runs 11 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 5, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 211.33 | 70.88 | +198% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 135.12 | 43.08 | +214% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 74.27 | 23.35 | +218% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 34.08 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 11.2 | 3.58 | +213% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 2.464 | 0 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.114 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0.48 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 2.61 | 1.39 | +88% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.37 | 0 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40 is faster on 1 of 1; NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 42.8 min | NVIDIA L40 3.18x faster | $0.155 vs $0.171 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA L40 finishes 1 of 1 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA L40 | $0.690 |
| NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | $0.240 |
NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation is 2.88x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 16GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 224 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,490 MHz | 2,130 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 70 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,000 | $625 |
| Release | 2022-10-13 | 2024-02-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40 or NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 11 benchmarks in our suite with an average 186.1% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation has 16GB VRAM and a 70W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA L40 fits 6 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX 2000 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 L40 and NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation?
- Qwen2.5-Coder 14B: NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 218% (74.27 vs 23.35 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40 full review · NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings