H100 PCIe vs L40S

Detailed comparison of specifications, performance, and pricing between NVIDIA H100 PCIe and NVIDIA L40S

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Overall Winner
H100 PCIe
Wins 4 of 7 categories
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Performance Leader
H100 PCIe
1.5k TFLOPS (+106%)
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Price Leader
L40S
$$9.0k (211% cheaper)
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Best Value ($/TFLOPS)
L40S
$12/TFLOPS
The H100 PCIe is 106% faster, but the L40S is 211% cheaper.

Difference Analysis

Metric
H100 PCIe
Difference
L40S
Tensor TFLOPS
1.5k
+106%
733.0
VRAM
80GB
+67%
48GB
Memory Bandwidth
2.0 TB/s
+131%
864 GB/s
Hardware Price
$$28k
+211%
$$9.0k
Cloud Price/hr
$2.39
+178%
$0.860

Full Specifications

Specification H100 PCIe L40S AMD Instinct MI210
Brand NVIDIA NVIDIA AMD
Series Data Center Data Center Data Center
Architecture Hopper Ada Lovelace CDNA 2
VRAM 80GB 48GB 64GB
VRAM Type HBM2e GDDR6 HBM2E
Memory Bandwidth 2.0 TB/s 864 GB/s 1.6 TB/s
FP16 TFLOPS 102.0 183.0 181.0
Tensor TFLOPS 1.5k 733.0 362.0
TDP 350W 350W 300W
Form Factor PCIe PCIe -
Hardware Price $$28k $$9.0k -
Cloud Price (min) $2.39/hr $0.860/hr -

Which Should You Choose?

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For AI Training

Large model training needs maximum VRAM and memory bandwidth.

Recommended: H100 PCIe
80GB VRAM ยท 2.0 TB/s
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For AI Inference

Inference prioritizes throughput and cost efficiency.

Recommended: L40S
Best performance per dollar
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On a Budget

Get the most capability for your money.

Recommended: L40S
$$9.0k ยท 211% cheaper
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For Cloud Rental

Minimize hourly costs for cloud workloads.

Recommended: L40S
From $0.860/hr

H100 PCIe vs L40S FAQ

It depends on your use case. The H100 PCIe offers 106% better performance (1.5k vs 733.0 TFLOPS). However, the L40S is 211% cheaper. For raw performance, choose H100 PCIe. For value, consider your budget and workload requirements.

The H100 PCIe has more VRAM with 80GB compared to 48GB (67% more). More VRAM is crucial for training large models and running inference on bigger batch sizes.

For AI training, the H100 PCIe is generally better due to its larger VRAM (80GB). Large language models and deep learning workloads benefit significantly from more memory. However, if your models fit in 48GB, the cheaper option may be more cost-effective.

The L40S is 211% cheaper at $$9.0k vs $$28k. When considering performance per dollar, evaluate your specific workload requirements to determine the best value.

Upgrading to H100 PCIe would give you 106% more performance and 67% more VRAM. The upgrade cost difference is approximately $$19k. Consider if your workloads are bottlenecked by current GPU capabilities.