Nvidia's partners have been crying about too small profit margins for years, Evga has even dropped out of the game, and now, they suddenly let the 4070 go $50 cheaper out of the kindness of their hearts, with no interference from Nvidia whatsoever. Tsk-tsk-tsk.
Anyway, a 12 GB card should not cost more than $500 MSRP. At that price, a 16 GB (7800XT) vs DLSS (4070) battle would be exciting. $550 is still too much, imo.
Stop the BS and look at reality. 12GB is plenty for 1440p gaming, and even 4K gaming.
A card like 7800XT can't even utilize 16GB because GPU is too weak. Futureproofing makes no sense when GPU will be what stops you from maxing out games.
More VRAM does not help when GPU is the limiting factor. And this is why 3070 8GB still beats 6700XT 12GB in 4K gaming in 2023 overall with ease ->
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-radeon-rx-7800-xt/32.html
And they launched at same MSRP in 2020/2021, or 20 dollars apart but 3070 launched like 6 months before 6700XT. AMD is always too late to the party really.
A 4070 with DLSS enabled would destroy a 7800XT with ease. They perform within 5% of each other without it and 4070 uses 50 watts less, was also released almost half a year ago. Nothing about 7800XT is impressive if you ask me. We had this kind of performance several years ago. However it's a fine mid-end card, AMD just released it too late because they already talk about RDNA4 in 2024 which will replace 7800XT -> RDNA4 will have no high-end products so Nvidia don't even have to respond before 2025.
The 4070 should have a slightly higher price than 7800XT because of superior features and RT performance. 9 out of 10 people that buy GPU today don't solely look at raster performance like its 2015. Killer features like DLSS/DLAA/DLDSR is missing. No way AMD can ask a higher price when all they have is FSR, VSR and mediocre RT performance and features in general.
AMD is always the cheaper option, with subpar features to follow and less optimized drivers overall. Nothing new here. Resell value is also much lower on AMD GPUs (less demand and AMD pricedrops over time makes them almost unsellable after a few years).
You can keep rambling all you want, what you say is exactly what people said about 6700XT because it had 12GB and it aged like milk anyway because GPU is not good enough to utilize it anyway. 3060 Ti 8GB aged just as well and was 79 dollars less on release and have DLSS to save performance meanwhile 6700XT users have identical raster perf but only FSR to help them when card becomes too slow, and it already is considered slow in many new games.
I can't stop laughing when people think VRAM will make their GPU futureproof... Not a single time this has been the case. Even 3090 24GB feels kinda slow for 4K gaming today and people thought it would be able to max out games in 4K for many yeah because of 24GB VRAM... Yet 4070 Ti 12GB beats it overall in 4K gaming today ->
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-radeon-rx-7800-xt/35.html
7900XT is also only 5 fps faster than 4070 Ti in 4K
minimum fps across all the games tested. Meaning that 12GB is plenty and 4070 Ti can always enable DLSS or DLAA to make up for that or to improve visuals further than 7900XT is capable of.
AMD severely lacks proper AA like DLAA. Amazing and best AA solution hands down.