NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA RTX A6000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 8 of 9 benchmarks, averaging 9.1% 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 Qwen3 4B, where NVIDIA L40 leads by 15% (211.33 vs 184.34 tok/s); the closest fight is Z-Image Turbo (4% apart).
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 211.33 | 184.34 | +15% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 135.12 | 124.87 | +8% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 74.27 | 68.51 | +8% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 34.08 | 32.18 | +6% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 15.73 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 11.2 | 10.02 | +12% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 5.625 | 5.4 | +4% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 2.464 | 2.164 | +14% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.114 | 1.05 | +6% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40 is faster on 6 of 6; NVIDIA RTX A6000 on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 7 min | 7.1 min | NVIDIA L40 1.01x faster | $0.080 vs $0.039 |
| 6-panel comic page | 9.1 min | 12.1 min | NVIDIA L40 1.33x faster | $0.105 vs $0.067 |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 12.1 min | 15.2 min | NVIDIA L40 1.25x faster | $0.140 vs $0.084 |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 14.6 min | NVIDIA L40 1.08x faster | $0.155 vs $0.080 |
| 40-product photo shoot | 41.1 min | 45.5 min | NVIDIA L40 1.11x faster | $0.473 vs $0.250 |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 1 h 30 min | 1 h 37 min | NVIDIA L40 1.07x faster | $1.038 vs $0.533 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX A6000 finishes 6 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 A6000 | $0.330 |
NVIDIA RTX A6000 is 2.09x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,490 MHz | 1,860 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,000 | $4,650 |
| Release | 2022-10-13 | 2020-10-05 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40 or NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average 9.1% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A6000 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- Qwen3 4B: NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 15% (211.33 vs 184.34 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40 full review · NVIDIA RTX A6000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings