NVIDIA L40S vs NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40S wins 12 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 70.7% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in FLUX.1 dev, where NVIDIA L40S leads by 198% (3.836 vs 1.286 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3-4B (24% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation runs 152 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 10, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 212.05 | 170.72 | +24% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 135.51 | 103.18 | +31% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 74.6 | 56.66 | +32% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 34.44 | 25.88 | +33% |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 16.49 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 17.02 | 12.74 | +34% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 8.325 | 5.925 | +41% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 3.836 | 1.286 | +198% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.693 | 0.793 | +113% |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 1.06 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 8.01 | 3.23 | +148% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.49 | 0.32 | +53% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40S is faster on 8 of 8; NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 4.1 min | 5.1 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.27x faster |
| 60-second AI short film | 4.9 min | 9.5 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.91x faster |
| 6-panel comic page | 6.5 min | 12.8 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.95x faster |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 8.4 min | 16 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.91x faster |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 17.6 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.31x faster |
| 10 short social clips | 19.1 min | 27.9 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.46x faster |
| 40-product photo shoot | 26.7 min | 53.7 min | NVIDIA L40S 2.01x faster |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 59.6 min | 2 h 6 min | NVIDIA L40S 2.12x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 32GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 576 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,520 MHz | 2,550 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 250 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,500 | $4,000 |
| Release | 2023-08-08 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40S or NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40S performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 12 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 70.7% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40S has 48GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 32GB VRAM and a 250W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation fits 6 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 RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- FLUX.1 dev: NVIDIA L40S leads by roughly 198% (3.836 vs 1.286 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40S full review · NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings