compare/rtx-3090 vs l4

RTX 3090vsL4

▸

If you already own a RTX 3090 → wait. Buying new → L4.L4 has +0 GB VRAM, -68% more bandwidth, at +$1300 (+144%) price.

▸Side by side

Contender

RTX 3090

NVIDIA · Ampere · sm_86

Street$900

vram: 24 GB
bandwidth: 936 GB/s
tdp: 350 W
released: 2020-09-24

Contender · winner

NVIDIA · Ada Lovelace · sm_89

Street$2,200

vram: 24 GB
bandwidth: 300 GB/s
tdp: 72 W
released: 2023-03-21

▸Spec diff

spec	rtx-3090	l4	delta
vram	24 GB	24 GB	+0 GB · 0%
bandwidth	936 GB/s	300 GB/s	-636 · -68%
tdp	350 W	72 W	+-278 W
street price	$900	$2,200	+$1300 · 144%
arch maturity	2020-09-24	2023-03-21	newer = less stable

▸What changes with the upgrade

▸ Unlocked by L40 models

No additional models unlocked.

▸ Speed deltas on shared modelstop 5

Gemma 2 2b199 → 64 t/s -68%

Gemma 3 4B105 → 34 t/s -68%

Gemma 3 12B71 → 23 t/s -68%

Meta Llama 3.1 8B54 → 17 t/s -69%

Mixtral 8x7B v0.150 → 16 t/s -68%

▸Value verdict

▸ Should you buy/upgrade?

L4 adds 0 GB VRAM for +$1300 (144% premium). The real question is whether your workflow needs models that RTX 3090can't run.

$ recommend → If you own a RTX 3090: wait. Prices drop, refresh cycles continue. If buying new: get the L4 IF your budget allows AND you need the extra headroom.