NVIDIA L40S vs NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation wins 5 of 9 benchmarks, averaging -9.1% 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 72% (3.836 vs 2.229 images/min); the closest fight is Llama-3.3-70B (12% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation runs 152 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 9, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 212.05 | 241.33 | -12% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 135.51 | 157.89 | -14% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 74.6 | 87.51 | -15% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 34.44 | 39.87 | -14% |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 16.49 | 18.4 | -10% |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 17.02 | 10.7 | +59% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 8.325 | 5.1 | +63% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 3.836 | 2.229 | +72% |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.693 | 1.029 | +65% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40S is faster on 5 of 7; NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation on 2.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 4.1 min | 5.5 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.35x faster | $0.053 vs $0.067 |
| 6-panel comic page | 6.5 min | 9.3 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.42x faster | $0.086 vs $0.115 |
| Character sheet, 12 poses | 8.4 min | 12.6 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.51x faster | $0.110 vs $0.155 |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 11.4 min | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation 1.18x faster | $0.177 vs $0.141 |
| 40-product photo shoot | 26.7 min | 43 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.61x faster | $0.352 vs $0.530 |
| 20 long-form articles | 28.5 min | 25.4 min | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation 1.12x faster | $0.375 vs $0.313 |
| 100-photo restoration batch | 59.6 min | 1 h 37 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.64x faster | $0.784 vs $1.202 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA L40S finishes 5 of 7 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA L40S | $0.790 |
| NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation | $0.740 |
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation is 1.07x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 960 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,520 MHz | 2,505 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,500 | $6,799 |
| Release | 2023-08-08 | 2022-12-03 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40S or NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 5 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average -9.1% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA L40S has 48GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation 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 RTX 6000 Ada Generation?
- FLUX.1 dev: NVIDIA L40S leads by roughly 72% (3.836 vs 2.229 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40S full review · NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings