NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) vs NVIDIA RTX A6000, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins 8 of 8 benchmarks, averaging 74% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen2.5-Coder 14B, where NVIDIA RTX A6000 leads by 89% (36.34 vs 68.51 tok/s); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (53% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX A6000 runs 9 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 6, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 110.18 | 184.34 | -40% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 66.59 | 124.87 | -47% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 36.34 | 68.51 | -47% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 32.18 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 15.73 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 6.56 | 10.02 | -35% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 2.164 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 1.05 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) is faster on 0 of 1; NVIDIA RTX A6000 on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 27.5 min | 14.6 min | NVIDIA RTX A6000 1.89x faster | $0.092 vs $0.080 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA RTX A6000 finishes 1 of 1 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | $0.200 |
| NVIDIA RTX A6000 | $0.330 |
NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) is 1.65x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | NVIDIA RTX A6000 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 20GB | 48GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 768 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,175 MHz | 1,860 MHz |
| TDP | 130 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,250 | $4,650 |
| Release | 2023-08-09 | 2020-10-05 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) or NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA RTX A6000 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 8 benchmarks in our suite with an average 74% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) has 20GB VRAM and a 130W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX A6000 has 48GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX A6000 fits 5 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation). 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 RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) and NVIDIA RTX A6000?
- Qwen2.5-Coder 14B: NVIDIA RTX A6000 leads by roughly 89% (36.34 vs 68.51 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) full review · NVIDIA RTX A6000 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings