Even with prices going up, it's still a great time to be a PC gamer.

Are you planning to build a gaming PC for the summer? If so, you might want to get started early in order to get the most bang for your buck. Yesterday we told you that desktop DRAM pricing is on the rise as contract chip prices have already jumped 50 percent in 2013, spiking 20 percent in March alone, and now we're hearing that graphics cards are getting more expensive.

The solution to pricey DRAM is memcached for flash.

You can stuff your home system full of DRAM without putting a hurt on your bank account, but when you're talking about servers on the scale of what's needed to keep Facebook up and running, things tend to get expensive. It's for this reason that Facebook has decided to reduce its dependance on DRAM. In its place, the social networking site built a data cache that runs on flash memory.

Historically speaking, if there's one thing memory chip makers could count on, it's that a new operating system from Microsoft would lead to double-digit percentage increases in quarterly DRAM shipments. That is, until now. According to IHS iSuppli, Windows 8 will have a positive impact in DRAM shipments, but quarterly growth this time around is expected to stay in single-digit territory.

Remember when high-end memory kits would set you back several hundred dollars? Those days are long gone, and for various reasons (all of which are great for consumers but stink for manufactures trying to flip a profit), they might never return. One of the reasons is that overclocking no longer carries such a heavy reliance on RAM. Memory is still important, but not like it was in the Pentium IV and AMD 64 era. But the biggest reason manufacturers are stuck in a low price rut is because they're caught in a "vicious circle of oversupply," GBI Research says.