I've just got a couple of things I'd like to add to the thread.
For those of you attending college, Windows Server 2003 is no longer available on dreamspark, however, you can get
Windows Server 2012 RC now. MSDNAA has also been rebranded as DreamSpark Premium. Check with the head of your engineering, mathematics, science, or computer science department to see if your school is enrolled and if your major or classes qualify you to get in the program. If you can you definitely want to join - you get free copies of Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, and Server 2012/2008. You should always check to see if you qualify, you might be surprised. I got enrolled in MSDNAA while I was studying architecture at a community college because apparently it counted as engineering. The number of operating system keys I got while I was enrolled was probably equal to about
half my tuition.
This is probably one of the best kept secrets about being a STEM major in college and people who have been studying for years don't believe me when I tell them about the program.
I'd also like to talk about buying parts online a bit.
I'm sure everyone's familiar with newegg, tigerdirect, and amazon, and if you're not, then you're in the right thread. I'll go ahead and link them anyway:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/http://www.newegg.com/http://www.amazon.com/If you're in college you can also get a year of amazon prime for free and then renew for $40 as long as you're a student. You'll get free two day shipping on many items (!), and as added bonus, you'll also get Amazon's knock-off version of netflix (prime instant videos). It doesn't have quite the selection of netflix but it does have quite a few shows netflix doesn't have.
If you have a prime subscription, you should always match amazon prices against newegg because sometimes the free shipping makes them cheaper than newegg.
If you need a stuffty usb lava lamp or fish aquarium, dealextreme is the place to go for stuffty chinese usb gadgets that will break in 2 weeks or burst into flames when you plug them in. Okay, it's not that bad, but it's pretty low quality, and sometimes they'll something that isn't what you bought but close, and it all takes like 4 or 5 weeks to get to you via cargo ship. If you need $1 flash drives or want to buy a bunch of gag gifts for your friends and don't want to spend money on a quality item from thinkgeek, you should go here. Sometimes stuff quality is good enough, and if you don't want to overpay for stuff, dealextreme is there for you.
http://www.dealextreme.com/Speaking of overpaying, if you're not buying your cables from monoprice, you're overpaying. Some of you are probably already familiar with monoprice but I've run into people who have been building computers for years and didn't know about it, so I'll repeat it anyway. You can occasionally get stuff cheaper on amazon or ebay, but monoprice has consistant quality for a low price. They also have a small selection of computer hardware, mostly networking, audio/video switches, kvm switches, etc, and it's also generally cheaper than newegg/tigerdirect.
http://www.monoprice.com/If you're looking for small electronic components, or totally random bullstuff you can sometimes find it on Electronics Goldmine. Basically they buy stuff in bulk from warehouses, surplus, and liquidation sales. If you're looking for a gieger tube, a CD player from a volkswaggen, giant magnetic rollers, or a really cheap fan to use for cooling then you should check here. It's always worth checking their stock every month to see what kind of bullstuff just came in.
http://www.goldmine-elec.com/If you want to decorate your case with some LEDs, lighting strips, or EL wire, don't buy a lighting kit. With an extra
molex cable for 50 cents on monoprice, and some cool custom lights and do it yourself. You can get a much better selection of colors, you can do it for cheaper, and with a bit of programming knowledge and a cheap microcontroller you can make chasing or rainbow lights, make your case change color depending on the temperature of the CPU, etc. If you're going to decorate your case, don't half ass it.
Good places to get EL wire, LED strips, LCD screens, etc are adafruit and sparkfun.
http://www.adafruit.com/new/https://www.sparkfun.com/Jameco also had a small selection of random computer parts, electronic components, and kits. If you want to try charging your laptop off solar power, they've got the parts here to do it.
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1If you need some low level hardware stuff, like capacitors, switches, buttons, etc, Digikey, element14, and Mouser are very popular. If you'd like to buy individual heatsinks and conductive tape so you can cool individual chips if you've overclocked them, you can find them here. The package type you're looking for is BGA (flat backed heatsinks similar to the ones that come with a processor) if you're trying to stick them on RAM or something on your motherboard. Everything is 10 times more awesome when you stick heatsinks on it even if it doesn't need it.
http://www.mouser.com/http://www.digikey.com/http://www.element14.com/community/index.jspa
