Regarding "future proof",
i cant entirely agree that there is 4k needed in order to use 4 GB RAM. It is possible that some future games may make use of 4 GB even at 1080P
and even without modding and for the 4k users there will be new cards released anyway with even more RAM. But not everyone is upgrading the card every year or so, some may have a 2-3 year cycle. I was using my card almost 3 years now, my 7870 was from spring 2012 as far as i remember (got it at the release), now we have early 2015 and i finally need a upgrade, even when i still play on 1080P, 2 GB simply isnt sufficient anymore. The GPU is a bit on the weak side but may still work when a bit reduced settings, the main issue is the RAM. Only the true geeks or freaks are upgrading a GPU as soon as there is a "stronger one" available (sometimes every year), not even every performance user is doing it, so a bit of "future proofing" is not bad, at least 2 years it should be able to be sufficient.
So if you think the 970 can stay sufficient with the RAM cap and at max or slightly reduced 1080P settings (the card should be able to handle it considering its solid performance), without modding, for the next 2-3 years then raise your hands.
When modding included... the 970 is already insufficient, sadly*. Fortunately i only need it 1 more year but many people may use it 2-3 years, pretty possible.
*May get the card today, then i can check out how it handles a game modded to the edge.
And maybe AMD does an about-face and starts caring about CPUs and PC GPUs meant for gaming again instead of pretty much waving the white flag by tossing most of their eggs into the console basket. That would be good for all of us because AMD's recent GPU offerings that count on brute force 4GB/512bit while using more energy than your furnace in winter might attract gamers with less than optimal knowledge of what they are buying, but it isn't actually advancing GPU technology or consumer options.
People want to laugh at the guys who are returning their 970's and tossing another $100 Nvidia's way. Beyond doing the intelligent and obvious thing in keeping their 970 and moving on, the least intelligent option of all would be to trade in that 970 for a 290 or even a 290x.
So far i was fine with what you said, from your already strong Nvidia supportive perspective. But those lines above are truly way to critical and actually ignorant in some way, so i think your Nvidia approach is now becoming to harsh lined and totally hardliner, almost fanboy-ism, sorry.
One of the thing i dont like to hear is the fact that you are considering it "low rated" in term a chip manufacturer is handing out "console chips", and it may not be rewarding at all from a financial point of view. But the dev support will surely be way bigger, and a company isnt only looking for primary cash flow, maybe Nvidia does because they truly are cash cows*. But AMD got some true interest into higher dev support and they are actually proud that both (next gen) consoles are using AMD chips, no matter how you look at it, its not because of inferior chips or whatever dirty stuff you got in mind.
You can have your opinion regarding 290 series cards but it doesnt make the people buying them "stupid" and thats the way how you are now pointing at them... and thats simply disrespectful. All have different needs and some simply need high and good VRAM... for example me. In term Nvidia is to dumb or to cheap in order to use appropriate VRAM solutions, some users may still have need for a "dated" Radeon product. Although from a performance and technology point of view the current Maxwell stuff is clearly supreme and no one is doubting it, even if you feel that way.
*The recent 960 release is a strong proof of that "cash-cow-spec". I know its not the topic here but still a short thing i want to bring up. It is a totally unspectacular card, a boring thing, the only true advantage is the high efficiency it got because of the Maxwell bonus. But the card is gimped in such a hard way that the efficiency is lower compared to 970 or 980 (it was not the case with comparable AMD cards in the past) because the Maxwell chip cant anymore use the resources in the most efficient way. Mainwhile the pricing is pretty high for a card having a rather boring "average performance level", it is not a card with good price/performance rate, definitely not. So what is Nvidia actually trying to achieve exactly? No one knows... but surely they are charging a lot for a card that is gimped hard and not even any good memory, still the old 2 GB spec, maybe some super casual 08/15 gamers may feel happy buying it,
but i worry they may not be able to afford this cards price...
Btw: The energy consumed is mainly a chip architecture matter, the bus nor RAM is having very little effect regarding that matter. So you are actually pointing at something else in a pretty harsh way that is
actually a big addition to any card, even a Nvidia card, oh yeah... it would really save my day if Nvidia would use it. Because at twice the bus size the 32 bit may go up to 64 bit... thats a hell of a bonus on a bus already cut down way to hard.
Ah yes, seems to be a popular and funny video but cant say he is wrong and he is truly hitting both partys, so no "fanboy-ism", although Nvidia naturally takes bigger hit: