NVIDIA L40S vs NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40S wins 8 of 8 benchmarks, averaging 616% faster.
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000'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 FLUX.1 dev, where NVIDIA L40S leads by 2143% (3.836 vs 0.171 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3-32B (57% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 runs 152 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 7, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 212.05 | 127.01 | +67% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 135.51 | 84.68 | +60% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 74.6 | 46.74 | +60% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 34.44 | 21.98 | +57% |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 16.49 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 17.02 | 6.18 | +175% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 8.325 | 0.45 | +1750% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 3.836 | 0.171 | +2143% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40S is faster on 2 of 2; NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 4.1 min | 54.9 min | NVIDIA L40S 13.54x faster |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 21.4 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.59x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Turing (TU102) |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 672 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,520 MHz | 1,770 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 260 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,500 | $9,999 |
| Release | 2023-08-08 | 2018-08-27 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40S or NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- NVIDIA L40S performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 8 benchmarks in our suite with an average 616% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- NVIDIA L40S has 48GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 has 48GB VRAM and a 260W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 fits 8 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA L40S. 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 L40S and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000?
- FLUX.1 dev: NVIDIA L40S leads by roughly 367% (3.836 vs 0.171 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40S full review · NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings