RTX 3090 vs RTX A4000: Specs, VRAM & Price
Short answer: choose the RTX 3090 when 24 GB of VRAM is the gating requirement. Choose the RTX A4000 when 16 GB is enough for the workload and the lower hourly rate points that way.
The RTX 3090 has 24 GB of VRAM; the RTX A4000 has 16 GB.
You can rent both by the hour, no purchase required. RTX 3090 from $0.185/GPU/hr; RTX A4000 from $0.167/GPU/hr. The RTX A4000 is 10% cheaper at the entry rate.
RTX 3090
Good for inference and small-scale training workloads
RTX A4000
Good for inference and small-scale training workloads
Last updated: 2026-10-10 22:01:45 UTCRefreshes hourly
Specs side by side
| Spec | RTX 3090 | RTX A4000 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24 GB | 16 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 936 GB/s | 448 GB/s |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
| Compute capability | 8.6 | 8.6 |
| Precisions in hardware | FP32, FP16, BF16, INT4 | FP32, FP16, BF16, INT4 |
| Peak FP16/BF16 tensor TFLOPS | 142 TFLOPS | – |
| NVLink / multi-GPU interconnect | NVLink, 2-way | – |
| Max board power (TDP) | 350W | 140W |
| Form factor | PCIe 4.0 x16 | – |
| Regions | 4 | 2 |
On-demand price
| Rate | RTX 3090 | RTX A4000 |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest per GPU/hr | $0.550/GPU/hr | $0.167/GPU/hr |
Which is better for AI: RTX 3090 or RTX A4000?
Choose the RTX 3090 when 24 GB of VRAM is the gating requirement. Choose the RTX A4000 when 16 GB is enough for the workload and the lower hourly rate points that way.
RTX 3090 vs RTX A4000: common questions
Is the RTX 3090 or the RTX A4000 better for AI?
Short answer: choose the RTX 3090 when 24 GB of VRAM is the gating requirement. Choose the RTX A4000 when 16 GB is enough for the workload and the lower hourly rate points that way.
Is the RTX 3090 or the RTX A4000 cheaper to rent?
On Aquanode's live marketplace the RTX 3090 starts at $0.185/GPU/hr (median $0.242/GPU/hr) and the RTX A4000 starts at $0.167/GPU/hr (median $0.187/GPU/hr). The RTX A4000 is the cheaper of the two at the entry rate, by 10%.
What is the difference between the RTX 3090 and the RTX A4000?
The RTX 3090 has 24 GB of VRAM against the RTX A4000's 16 GB; both are Ampere parts; both run BF16, INT4 workloads in hardware. On price, the RTX 3090 lists from $0.185/GPU/hr and the RTX A4000 from $0.167/GPU/hr.
How widely available are the RTX 3090 and the RTX A4000?
The RTX 3090 is listed in 4 regions and the RTX A4000 in 2 regions right now.
How much does 1,000 GPU-hours cost on the RTX 3090 vs the RTX A4000?
At the lowest rates listed today, 1,000 GPU-hours costs $185 on the RTX 3090 and $167 on the RTX A4000, a difference of $18 for the same runtime. Rates are per GPU per hour and update hourly.
How much VRAM does the RTX 3090 have compared to the RTX A4000?
The RTX 3090 has 24 GB of VRAM; the RTX A4000 has 16 GB.
Does the RTX 3090 or the RTX A4000 support NVLink?
The RTX 3090 supports NVLink, 2-way; the RTX A4000 has no dedicated GPU-to-GPU interconnect.
How this comparison is calculated
Every price is normalized to a per-GPU hourly rate using the same pipeline as every other pricing surface on Aquanode, and only the cheapest qualifying offer per provider is shown. A dash means that provider does not currently list that GPU.
Architecture, compute capability and supported precisions come from each vendor's published datasheet for that generation, not from the marketplace feed. This page regenerates at most once per hour.
Memory bandwidth, tensor TFLOPS, NVLink/interconnect and max board power are the same verified-from-datasheet figures shown on each model's own RTX 3090 page and RTX A4000 page, which link the primary vendor source for that model. A dash here means Aquanode hasn't verified that figure from a primary source yet, never a guess.
Go further
Check what fits in each card's memory with the RTX 3090 VRAM calculator and the RTX A4000 VRAM calculator, or browse every model by generation in the GPU index.
More RTX 3090 comparisons
More RTX A4000 comparisons
Related reading: RTX 3090 pricing and specs, and RTX 3090 for AI.
