I'd rather buy an older high-end GPU than a newer low-end one, and VRAM is only part of why

When shopping on a budget, older high-end GPUs like the RTX 3080 often beat newer budget cards like the RTX 5060 on more than just VRAM. The 3080 offers 10GB vs the 5060's 8GB, which matters significantly at 1440p where VRAM limits cause stutters and frame rate collapses. Older flagships also have superior shader counts and cooling solutions. The main advantages of newer budget cards are software features like Multi Frame Generation, Reflex 2, AV1 encoding, and newer display standards — but MFG is considered a crutch when base framerates are already low. Used flagships can be found for under $400, sometimes as low as $250, making them compelling value picks despite lacking warranty coverage.