NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 10 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 25.2% 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 Wan 2.2 5B (720p), where NVIDIA L40 leads by 54% (0.37 vs 0.24 frames/s); the closest fight is LTX-Video (distilled) (3% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA L40 runs 11 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 8, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 211.33 | 171.68 | +23% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 135.12 | 119.86 | +13% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 74.27 | 64.89 | +14% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 34.08 | 30.49 | +12% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 11.2 | 7.46 | +50% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 5.625 | 4.05 | +39% |
| 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 | 2.7 | -3% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.37 | 0.24 | +54% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40 is faster on 2 of 4; NVIDIA RTX A5000 on 2.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 7 min | 7 min | NVIDIA RTX A5000 1.00x faster | $0.080 vs $0.019 |
| 60-second AI short film | 13 min | 11.8 min | NVIDIA RTX A5000 1.10x faster | $0.149 vs $0.031 |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 15.4 min | NVIDIA L40 1.14x faster | $0.155 vs $0.041 |
| 10 short social clips | 28.2 min | 37.2 min | NVIDIA L40 1.32x faster | $0.324 vs $0.099 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX A5000 finishes 4 of 4 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 A5000 | $0.160 |
NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 4.31x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 24GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere (GA102 derivative) |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,490 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 230 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,000 | $2,250 |
| Release | 2022-10-13 | 2021-04-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40 or NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 25.2% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A5000 has 24GB VRAM and a 230W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA L40 fits 4 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX A5000. 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 A5000?
- Wan 2.2 5B (720p): NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 13% (0.37 vs 0.24 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40 full review · NVIDIA RTX A5000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings