NVIDIA L40S vs NVIDIA RTX A5000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA L40S wins 12 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 74.9% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in LTX-Video (distilled), where NVIDIA L40S leads by 197% (8.01 vs 2.7 frames/s); the closest fight is Qwen3-32B (13% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX A5000 runs 152 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 L40S | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3-4B tok/s | 212.05 | 171.68 | +24% |
| Llama-3.1-8B tok/s | 135.51 | 119.86 | +13% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder-14B tok/s | 74.6 | 64.89 | +15% |
| Qwen3-32B tok/s | 34.44 | 30.49 | +13% |
| Llama-3.3-70B tok/s | 16.49 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 17.02 | 7.46 | +128% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 8.325 | 4.05 | +106% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 3.836 | 0 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 1.693 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 1.06 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 8.01 | 2.7 | +197% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.49 | 0.24 | +104% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA L40S is faster on 4 of 4; NVIDIA RTX A5000 on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 4.1 min | 7 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.72x faster | $0.053 vs $0.019 |
| 60-second AI short film | 4.9 min | 11.8 min | NVIDIA L40S 2.38x faster | $0.065 vs $0.031 |
| Full codebase review | 13.5 min | 15.4 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.15x faster | $0.177 vs $0.041 |
| 10 short social clips | 19.1 min | 37.2 min | NVIDIA L40S 1.95x faster | $0.251 vs $0.099 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX A5000 finishes 4 of 4 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 A5000 | $0.160 |
NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 4.94x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA L40S | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 48GB | 24GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere (GA102 derivative) |
| Memory bandwidth | 864 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,520 MHz | 1,695 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 230 W |
| Launch MSRP | $7,500 | $2,250 |
| Release | 2023-08-08 | 2021-04-12 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA L40S or NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA L40S performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 12 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 74.9% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- NVIDIA L40S has 48GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A5000 has 24GB VRAM and a 230W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA RTX A5000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX A5000 fits 4 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 A5000?
- LTX-Video (distilled): NVIDIA L40S leads by roughly 197% (8.01 vs 2.7 frames/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA L40S full review · NVIDIA RTX A5000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings