NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA T4, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40 wins 9 of 10 benchmarks, averaging 287.1% 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 Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA L40 leads by 375% (11.2 vs 2.36 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (212% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA L40 runs 111 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 11, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA T4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 211.33 | 67.71 | +212% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 135.12 | 35.01 | +286% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 74.27 | 19.76 | +276% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 34.08 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 11.2 | 2.36 | +375% |
| 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 |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.37 | 0 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40 is faster on 1 of 1; NVIDIA T4 on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA T4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 50.7 min | NVIDIA L40 3.77x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40 | NVIDIA T4 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 16GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Turing |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 320 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,490 MHz | 1,590 MHz |
| TDP | 300 W | 70 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,000 | $2,299 |
| Release | 2022-10-13 | 2018-09-13 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40 or NVIDIA T4?
- NVIDIA L40 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 9 of 10 benchmarks in our suite with an average 287.1% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA T4?
- NVIDIA L40 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP, while NVIDIA T4 has 16GB VRAM and a 70W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA T4?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA L40 fits 44 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA T4. 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 T4?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA L40 leads by roughly 375% (11.2 vs 2.36 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40 full review · NVIDIA T4 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings