NVIDIA L40S vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Comparison

The NVIDIA L40S and NVIDIA RTX A5500 are both end-of-life professional cards, but they target different segments: the L40S is a server-class Ada Lovelace part, while the A5500 is a workstation Ampere part. Benchmark data shows the L40S leads decisively in both compute and graphics workloads, but the A5500 retains advantages in power efficiency and display connectivity. Below is a data-driven comparison based strictly on the provided metrics.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are one-sided. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the L40S scores 330,727 points against the A5500’s 174,637 points, a delta of 89.4% in favor of the L40S. This near-doubling of compute performance reflects the generational gap between the two architectures, not just a clock speed difference.

In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the L40S again wins, scoring 260,799 against 155,797 for the A5500, a 67.4% advantage. The smaller delta in Vulkan compared to OpenCL suggests the A5500’s graphics pipeline is relatively closer to the L40S in driver-optimized scenarios, but the L40S still holds a commanding lead.

The L40S wins both head-to-head benchmarks, totaling 2 wins to 0 for the A5500. Its average benchmark score across all tests is 295,763, placing it in the 99th percentile of all GPUs. The A5500’s average score is 165,217, which lands in the 97th percentile. That two-percentile gap understates the raw performance difference because the percentile scale compresses at the top end; the raw scores tell the real story.

For context, the L40S’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA H200 NVL (avg score 334,891, 11.7% higher) and AMD Instinct MI300X (avg score 317,994, 7% higher). The L40S also sits 3% above the RTX 6000 Ada Generation and 4.1% above the NVIDIA L40. The A5500, by contrast, trades blows with the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 (0.2% difference) and the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation (0.5% behind), while sitting 1.7% above the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB and 2% below the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X.

Interpreting these deltas: the L40S is not just faster than the A5500; it operates in a different performance class. The A5500’s closest competitors are workstation cards from the same generation, whereas the L40S competes with top-tier accelerators like the H200 NVL and MI300X. In practical terms, the L40S delivers roughly 1.8 times the OpenCL performance and 1.7 times the Vulkan performance of the A5500.

Architecture Differences

The L40S uses the AD102 chip built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 125.3 million per mm². The A5500 uses the GA102 chip on an 8 nm process at Samsung, with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, giving a density of 45.1 million per mm². The L40S packs more than 2.7 times the transistors into a slightly smaller die, which explains its massive compute lead.

Architecturally, the L40S is Ada Lovelace (generation “Server Ada (Lxx)”), while the A5500 is Ampere (generation “Workstation Ampere (Ax000)”). The L40S has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 142 RT cores, and 568 tensor cores. The A5500 has 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. The L40S roughly doubles every compute resource category.

Clock speeds tell a nuanced story. The L40S has a base clock of 1110 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The A5500 has a base of 1080 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz. The L40S’s boost clock is 51% higher, but its base clock is only 2.8% higher. The real advantage comes from the combination of higher clocks and nearly double the cores.

Memory architecture differs significantly. The L40S has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 864.0 GB/s. The A5500 has 24 GB of GDDR6 on the same 384-bit bus, but bandwidth drops to 768.0 GB/s. The L40S’s memory clock is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) versus 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) on the A5500. Both cards use PCIe 4.0 x16, so the interface is identical.

Power and cooling also diverge. The L40S has a TDP of 300 W, requires a 1x 16-pin power connector, and suggests a 700 W PSU. The A5500 has a 230 W TDP, uses a single 8-pin connector, and suggests a 550 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards with similar dimensions: the L40S is 267 mm long and 111 mm high; the A5500 is 267 mm long and 112 mm high. The L40S is 1 mm shorter in height.

Display outputs differ: the L40S offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the A5500 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The L40S adds HDMI support, but the A5500 provides more total DisplayPort connections.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in raw compute?

A: The L40S wins by a wide margin. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 330,727 versus 174,637 for the A5500, a 89.4% delta. In Vulkan, the L40S scores 260,799 versus 155,797, a 67.4% delta.

Q: How do their memory capacities compare?

A: The L40S has 48 GB of GDDR6, exactly double the A5500’s 24 GB. Both use a 384-bit bus, but the L40S’s bandwidth is 864.0 GB/s versus 768.0 GB/s for the A5500.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The L40S has a 300 W TDP and needs a 1x 16-pin power connector with a suggested 700 W PSU. The A5500 has a 230 W TDP, uses a single 8-pin connector, and suggests a 550 W PSU.

Q: Which card has better display connectivity?

A: The A5500 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The L40S provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, so the A5500 has more DisplayPort connectors, while the L40S adds HDMI.

Q: Are these cards still in production?

A: No. Both are marked as end-of-life in the data. The L40S was released on 2022-10-12, and the A5500 on 2022-03-21.

Q: How do their transistor counts differ?

A: The L40S has 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, while the A5500 has 28,300 million on a 628 mm² die. The L40S achieves 125.3 million transistors per mm² versus 45.1 million per mm² for the A5500.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for raw performance: the L40S is the superior card. It wins both benchmarks by 67-89%, has double the memory (48 GB vs 24 GB), higher bandwidth (864.0 GB/s vs 768.0 GB/s), more than double the shading units (18,176 vs 10,240), and a 99th percentile ranking versus 97th for the A5500. If your workload is compute-heavy — rendering, simulation, AI inference — the L40S is the only rational choice from these two.

However, the A5500 is not without merit. Its 230 W TDP is 70 W lower than the L40S, and it uses a standard 8-pin connector instead of a 16-pin, making it easier to install in existing workstations with 550 W PSUs. It also offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs compared to the L40S’s 3x DisplayPort plus 1x HDMI. For multi-display workstation setups, the A5500 provides more flexible connectivity.

The A5500’s nearest rival is the RTX 4500 Ada Generation (0.5% difference) or the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 (0.2% difference), meaning it sits in the mid-range workstation tier. The L40S, by contrast, sits near the top of the GPU hierarchy, just 11.7% below the H200 NVL and 7% below the MI300X. Choosing the A5500 over the L40S means accepting a 67-89% performance penalty for lower power draw and better display output flexibility.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every compute specification. The L40S uses a 5 nm TSMC process; the A5500 uses 8 nm Samsung. The L40S has 76,300 million transistors versus 28,300 million. Die size is close (609 mm² vs 628 mm²), but transistor density is 125.3M/mm² versus 45.1M/mm².

Shading units: 18,176 (L40S) vs 10,240 (A5500). TMUs: 568 vs 320. ROPs: 192 vs 96. RT cores: 142 vs 80. Tensor cores: 568 vs 320. FP32 performance: 91.61 TFLOPS vs 34.10 TFLOPS. FP16: 91.61 TFLOPS vs 34.10 TFLOPS (both 1:1). Pixel rate: 483.8 GPixel/s vs 159.8 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 1,431.4 GTexel/s vs 532.8 GTexel/s.

Memory: 48 GB vs 24 GB GDDR6, both 384-bit, but bandwidth is 864.0 GB/s vs 768.0 GB/s. Memory clock: 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) vs 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

Clocks: base 1110 MHz vs 1080 MHz; boost 2520 MHz vs 1665 MHz. TDP: 300 W vs 230 W. Power connectors: 1x 16-pin vs 1x 8-pin. Suggested PSU: 700 W vs 550 W. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1 + 3x DP 1.4a vs 4x DP 1.4a.

Dimensions are nearly identical: both 267 mm long, 111 mm vs 112 mm high. Both are dual-slot, PCIe 4.0 x16, support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Release dates differ: L40S on 2022-10-12, A5500 on 2022-03-21. Generations: Server Ada (Lxx) vs Workstation Ampere (Ax000). Predecessors/successors also differ: L40S follows Server Ampere and precedes Server Hopper; A5500 follows Quadro Turing and precedes Workstation Ada.

Where Each One Wins

The L40S wins every performance benchmark and every compute specification. It has 2 wins in the head-to-head tests, 89.4% higher OpenCL score, 67.4% higher Vulkan score, double the memory capacity, 12.5% higher bandwidth, 2.7 times the transistor count, and roughly 2.7 times the FP32 throughput (91.61 TFLOPS vs 34.10 TFLOPS). It is the clear choice for workloads that need maximum compute density: large model training, batch rendering, scientific simulation, or any task where memory capacity above 24 GB is required.

The A5500 wins in three specific areas. First, power efficiency: 230 W TDP versus 300 W, meaning lower heat output and simpler cooling. Second, power delivery: a single 8-pin connector versus a 16-pin, which is compatible with older PSUs rated at 550 W rather than 700 W. Third, display connectivity: 4x DisplayPort 1.4a versus 3x DisplayPort plus 1x HDMI. For a workstation driving four monitors without adapters, the A5500 is more convenient.

The A5500 also has a lower transistor count on a larger die, which some might interpret as a simpler architecture, but this yields no practical benefit in the benchmark data. Its nearest rivals are all similarly positioned mid-range workstation cards, so it fits into existing Ampere-era deployments.

In summary: pick the L40S for performance, memory capacity, and compute workloads. Pick the A5500 for lower power draw, simpler power cabling, and multi-display workstation setups. The L40S is the faster card by every metric that matters for throughput; the A5500 is the more practical card for constrained physical or electrical environments.