GPU Use Cases
L40S use cases
The L40S is NVIDIA's best-value data-center GPU for inference serving. Its 48 GB of GDDR6 memory and 183 TFLOPS of FP16 throughput deliver strong cost-per-token for models up to 30B parameters, at a significantly lower price point than HBM-based alternatives.
LLM inference
The L40S is the most cost-effective GPU for inference serving of models in the 7B–30B parameter range. Its 48 GB GDDR6 fits models up to approximately 24B parameters at FP16 or 48B at INT8. While its 864 GB/s bandwidth is lower than HBM-based alternatives, for batch inference and smaller models the lower cost per hour often delivers better cost-per-token than the A100 or H100.
Generative AI and image generation
The L40S was designed for Ada Lovelace's generative AI workloads. Its 91.6 TFLOPS FP32 figure is unusually high for a data-center GPU, making it well-suited for Stable Diffusion, image generation, and video synthesis workloads. For mixed compute and graphics environments, the L40S is the top choice.
Fine-tuning
The L40S is a cost-effective option for LoRA and QLoRA fine-tuning of models up to 30B parameters. Its 48 GB capacity provides headroom for adapter weights, optimizer states, and activations. For full fine-tuning of larger models, the lack of NVLink means VRAM cannot be pooled across cards.
Batch inference and offline jobs
For batch inference pipelines, embedding generation, and offline scoring, the L40S delivers strong throughput at a lower cost than HBM-based GPUs. Its PCIe 4.0 interface and standard server compatibility make it easy to deploy at scale.