NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 8 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 22.9% 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 FLUX.1 dev, where NVIDIA L40 leads by 92% (2.464 vs 1.286 images/min); the closest fight is Z-Image Turbo (5% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA L40 runs 11 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 10, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 211.33 | 170.72 | +24% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 135.12 | 103.18 | +31% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 74.27 | 56.66 | +31% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 34.08 | 25.88 | +32% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 11.2 | 12.74 | -12% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 5.625 | 5.925 | -5% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 2.464 | 1.286 | +92% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.114 | 0.793 | +40% |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0.48 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 2.61 | 3.23 | -19% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.37 | 0.32 | +16% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40 is faster on 5 of 8; NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation on 3.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 7 min | 5.1 min | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation 1.36x faster |
| 6-panel comic page | 9.1 min | 12.8 min | NVIDIA L40 1.40x faster |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 12.1 min | 16 min | NVIDIA L40 1.32x faster |
| 60-second AI short film | 13 min | 9.5 min | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation 1.37x faster |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 17.6 min | NVIDIA L40 1.31x faster |
| 10 short social clips | 28.2 min | 27.9 min | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation 1.01x faster |
| 40-product photo shoot | 41.1 min | 53.7 min | NVIDIA L40 1.31x faster |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 1 h 30 min | 2 h 6 min | NVIDIA L40 1.40x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 32GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 576 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,490 MHz | 2,550 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 250 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,000 | $4,000 |
| Release | 2022-10-13 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40 or NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 22.9% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 32GB VRAM and a 250W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA L40 fits 2 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX 5000 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 5000 Ada Generation?
- FLUX.1 dev: NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 92% (2.464 vs 1.286 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40 full review · NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings