Yep, it's the RAM, but also just a mismatched value proposition.

I think it's clear at this point Nvidia is trying to have it both ways and gamers are sick of it. They used pandemic shortage prices as an excuse to inflate their entire line's prices, thinking they could just milk the "new normal" without having to change their plans.

But when you move the x070 series out of the mid-tier price bracket ($250-450, let's say), you better meet a more premium standard. Instead, they're throwing mid-tier RAM into a premium-priced project that most customers still feel should be mid-tier priced. It also doesn't help that it's at a time where people generally just have less disposable income.