compare/a100-80gb vs h200-sxm

A100 80GBvsH200 SXM5

▸

If you already own a A100 80GB → wait. Buying new → H200 SXM5.H200 SXM5 has +61 GB VRAM, 148% more bandwidth, unlocks +1 models, at +$34000 (+309%) price.

▸Side by side

Contender

A100 80GB

NVIDIA · Ampere · sm_80

Street$11,000

vram: 80 GB
bandwidth: 1935 GB/s
tdp: 400 W
released: 2020-11-16

Contender · winner

H200 SXM5

NVIDIA · Hopper · sm_90

Street$45,000

vram: 141 GB
bandwidth: 4800 GB/s
tdp: 700 W
released: 2024-03-27

▸Spec diff

spec	a100-80gb	h200-sxm	delta
vram	80 GB	141 GB	+61 GB · 76%
bandwidth	1935 GB/s	4800 GB/s	+2865 · 148%
tdp	400 W	700 W	+300 W
street price	$11,000	$45,000	+$34000 · 309%
arch maturity	2020-11-16	2024-03-27	newer = less stable

▸What changes with the upgrade

▸ Unlocked by H200 SXM51 models

DeepSeek Chat V2.5Q4_K_M39 t/s · bench 17.8

▸ Speed deltas on shared modelstop 5

Gemma 2 2b412 → 1021 t/s +148%

Gemma 3 4B217 → 539 t/s +148%

Meta Llama 3.1 8B112 → 277 t/s +147%

Gemma 2 9B100 → 247 t/s +147%

Gemma 3 12B75 → 187 t/s +149%

▸Value verdict

▸ Should you buy/upgrade?

H200 SXM5 adds 61 GB VRAM for +$34000 (309% premium). The real question is whether your workflow needs models that A100 80GBcan't run.

If yes — you want to run DeepSeek Chat V2.5 or similar — then the 61 GB is load-bearing, not luxury.

$ recommend → If you own a A100 80GB: wait. Prices drop, refresh cycles continue. If buying new: get the H200 SXM5 IF your budget allows AND you need the unlocked models.