70-class VRAM stagnation

been thinking about how the desktop 70-class has sat at 12GB for two generations now, 4070, 4070 super, 5070, all 12GB. the 1070 gave you 8GB back in 2016 and it felt generous for the price. ten years later the jump is... 4GB.

and the thing is these chips arent even weak. the cores keep improving, theyre just boxed in by memory. a 70-class card with 24GB would be a genuinely capable local model machine for cheap.

which is maybe the point. nvidia makes far more selling VRAM-heavy cards for AI than they'd make letting a $550 gaming card run models people currently need pricier hardware for. cant prove intent obviously, but the incentive lines up a little too neatly. memory shortages are a real factor too, just feels like more than that