compare/h100-sxm vs a100-80gb

H100 SXM5vsA100 80GB

▸

H100 SXM5 still wins for value.A100 80GB has +0 GB VRAM, -42% more bandwidth.

▸Side by side

Contender · winner

H100 SXM5

NVIDIA · Hopper · sm_90

Street$40,000

vram: 80 GB
bandwidth: 3350 GB/s
tdp: 700 W
released: 2022-03-22

Contender

A100 80GB

NVIDIA · Ampere · sm_80

Street$11,000

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

▸Spec diff

spec	h100-sxm	a100-80gb	delta
vram	80 GB	80 GB	+0 GB · 0%
bandwidth	3350 GB/s	1935 GB/s	-1415 · -42%
tdp	700 W	400 W	+-300 W
street price	$40,000	$11,000	$29000 · -72%
arch maturity	2022-03-22	2020-11-16	newer = less stable

▸What changes with the upgrade

▸ Unlocked by A100 80GB0 models

No additional models unlocked.

▸ Speed deltas on shared modelstop 5

Gemma 2 2b713 → 412 t/s -42%

Gemma 3 4B376 → 217 t/s -42%

Meta Llama 3.1 8B194 → 112 t/s -42%

Gemma 2 9B173 → 100 t/s -42%

Gemma 3 12B130 → 75 t/s -42%

▸Value verdict

▸ Should you buy/upgrade?

A100 80GB adds 0 GB VRAM for the same price. The real question is whether your workflow needs models that H100 SXM5can't run.

$ recommend → If you own a H100 SXM5: wait. Prices drop, refresh cycles continue. If buying new: get the A100 80GB IF your budget allows AND you need the extra headroom.