NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 10 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 20.9% 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 Wan 2.2 5B (720p), where NVIDIA L40 leads by 42% (0.37 vs 0.26 frames/s); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (18% 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 PRO 4000 Blackwell | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 211.33 | 179.58 | +18% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 135.12 | 112.36 | +20% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 74.27 | 60.62 | +23% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 34.08 | 27.8 | +23% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 11.2 | 8.56 | +31% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 5.625 | 4.425 | +27% |
| 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 | 3.1 | -16% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.37 | 0.26 | +42% |
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 PRO 4000 Blackwell on 2.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 7 min | 6.4 min | NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell 1.09x faster |
| 60-second AI short film | 13 min | 10.2 min | NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell 1.27x faster |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 16.5 min | NVIDIA L40 1.23x faster |
| 10 short social clips | 28.2 min | 34.2 min | NVIDIA L40 1.21x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 24GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Blackwell |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 672 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,490 MHz | 2,617 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 140 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,000 | $1,500 |
| Release | 2022-10-13 | 2025-08-01 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40 or NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 20.9% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell?
- NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell has 24GB VRAM and a 140W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA L40 fits 4 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell. 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 PRO 4000 Blackwell?
- Wan 2.2 5B (720p): NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 11% (0.37 vs 0.26 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40 full review · NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings