> "Pay more and get less" has been the trend

That article doesn't support what you're saying whatsoever. GPU cores going down at the same price point is the opposite of shrinkflation, especially when you consider the US dollar is worth ~40% less than it was in 2012. And VRAM prices aren't going down anywhere, especially now.

> bullshit like fake frames

Fake frames are an option. You can play at native 4K/8K resolution, with the same 2.25-4x cost in power usage and raster compute. It will be miserable, but that's your choice.