A numerical study of a natural convection in a rectangular cavity with the low-Reynolds-number differential stress and flux model is presented. The primary emphasis of the study is placed on the investigation of the accuracy and numerical stability of the low-Reynolds-number differential stress and flux model for a natural convection problem. The turbulence model considered in the study is that developed by Peeters and Henkes (1992) and further refined by Dol and Hanjalic (2001), and this model is applied to the prediction of a natural convection in a rectangular cavity together with the two-layer model, the shear stress transport model and the time-scale bound ν$^2$- f model, all with an algebraic heat flux model. The computed results are compared with the experimental data commonly used for the validation of the turbulence models. It is shown that the low-Reynolds-number differential stress and flux model predicts well the mean velocity and temperature, the vertical velocity fluctuation, the Reynolds shear stress, the horizontal turbulent heat flux, the local Nusselt number and the wall shear stress, but slightly under-predicts the vertical turbulent heat flux. The performance of the ν$^2$- f model is comparable to that of the low-Reynolds-number differential stress and flux model except for the over-prediction of the horizontal turbulent heat flux. The two-layer model predicts poorly the mean vertical velocity component and under-predicts the wall shear stress and the local Nusselt number. The shear stress transport model predicts well the mean velocity, but the general performance of the shear stress transport model is nearly the same as that of the two-layer model, under-predicting the local Nusselt number and the turbulent quantities.