NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation wins 5 of 9 benchmarks, averaging 4.4% 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 RTX 6000 Ada Generation leads by 18% (74.27 vs 87.51 tok/s); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (5% apart).
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 211.33 | 241.33 | -12% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 135.12 | 157.89 | -14% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 74.27 | 87.51 | -15% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 34.08 | 39.87 | -15% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 18.4 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 11.2 | 10.7 | +5% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 5.625 | 5.1 | +10% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 2.464 | 2.229 | +11% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.114 | 1.029 | +8% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40 is faster on 4 of 6; NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation on 2.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 7 min | 5.5 min | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation 1.28x faster | $0.080 vs $0.067 |
| 6-panel comic page | 9.1 min | 9.3 min | NVIDIA L40 1.02x faster | $0.105 vs $0.115 |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 12.1 min | 12.6 min | NVIDIA L40 1.04x faster | $0.140 vs $0.155 |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 11.4 min | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation 1.18x faster | $0.155 vs $0.141 |
| 40-product photo shoot | 41.1 min | 43 min | NVIDIA L40 1.05x faster | $0.473 vs $0.530 |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 1 h 30 min | 1 h 37 min | NVIDIA L40 1.08x faster | $1.038 vs $1.202 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA L40 finishes 4 of 6 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 6000 Ada Generation | $0.740 |
NVIDIA L40 is 1.07x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 960 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,490 MHz | 2,505 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,000 | $6,799 |
| Release | 2022-10-13 | 2022-12-03 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40 or NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 5 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average 4.4% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation?
- Qwen2.5-Coder 14B: NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation leads by roughly 18% (74.27 vs 87.51 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40 full review · NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings