What I Want

I want a new monitor, one of these three options:

$250 24" monitor 5ms,  >1000:1 contrast, HDMI, VGA, DVI-D multiple ports a plus

$180 22" monitor 5/2ms, >=1000:1 contrast, VGA, DVI-D

or

$150 20" monitor 2ms, >= 1000:1 contrast, VGA, DVI-D

I want a good brand, Samsung preferably, with either free shipping or shipping that adds up to the price.  My old Westinghouse 22" has a green bar down the middle which is the reason for both the good brand and new monitor.  Plus I got this one for $200 two years ago, so I don't want to pay more than that as a matter of principle.  The reason I might downgrade to a 20" is because at the same resolution (most are 1680x1050) it will at least look sharper and cost less.  

I want new ram, one of these two options:

$40, 4GB 2x2,  DDR2-1066 or 1000, CL 5

$50 - rebate, 4GB 2x2,  DDR2-1066 0r 1000, CL5

Don't really care what brand, but Mushkin would be awesome.  Something to give me a little boost till I upgrade in a year.

Previously I wanted a $30 shipped MCW-60 Swiftech GPU block, but I got a used one off my frequently visited forum.  I also was looking into getting a used or very cheap pair of skis, bindings, and boots for a ski trip, but then I realized I really have no idea what I'm looking for, and probably wouldn't use them more than twice a year.

If anyone finds these, please post in comments.

Online Deals and Sales on Computer Hardware and Accessories

I spend about half my time on the internet surfing computer hardware websites because I'm obsessive. Here are some sites you might not know about which have some pretty good deals on hardware.

General Deals Sites
Most people know about these sites, but putting them here for reference. 

Slickdeals: http://slickdeals.net/
Deal News: http://dealnews.com/

My personal favorite, especially for cheap laptops. They focus on technology but also have extensive home and clothing sections. If you are looking for a netbook keep an eye on this site they commonly list $50 off sales.

Fat Wallet: http://www.fatwallet.com/3days.php

Sign up with them and they will let you get cashback like Microsoft's Live Search Cashback service. I use the 3 day display the most which mostly lists coupons and sales going on, but they also have forums and a minute to minute site.

Computer accessories 
Cases, Power Supplies, Fans, Heatsinks, etc. Most of these are clearance sites for their main site, so you can look around their main sites as well.

Sidewinder Computers: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/clearsec.html < Cooler Guys: http://www.coolerguys.com/coolergarage.html
Xoxide: http://www.xoxide.com/saleitems.html
Silicon Valley Compucycle: http://www.svc.com/clearance.html

Computer Cases:
Recently found these two sites, mostly refurb deals but also some B-stock and new products also.

Coolermaster: http://cmstore.coolermaster-usa.com/index.php
Antec: http://www.antec.com/Search.bok?category=B+Stock

(currently having a sale till the 19th: http://www.antec.com/usa/B-stock_sale.html)

Motherboards:

MotherboardPro: http://www.motherboardpro.com/

Flat rate shipping to the US, prices waver around Newegg's so always compare prices with them.

Forums
Forums can be a great place to find awesome deals. Not only are there "for sale" sections, but many also have Hot Deals sections. Some forums require a specific post count to post deals in their "for sale" sections and some even just for online deals, so I am just posting the sites you can get into easily.

[H]ard OCP Hot Deals: http://www.hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28
Anandtech Hot Deals: http://forums.anandtech.com/categori...=40&entercat=y
SlickDeals Hot Deals: http://forums.slickdeals.net/forumdi...hp?sduid=0&f=9

Academic Discounts
Most major retailers of computers have academic discounts and Iowa State is on most of those. The percent off varies from site to site but is most often 7%. Sometimes there will be deals that cannot be used through the academic discount sites, Dell Small Business coupons for example will not work on their academic discount site. The sites I have signed up for with Iowa State are listed below.

Dell University: http://www.delluniversity.com/

Starts at 7% for all items, 12% for desktops and more for their specials.

Lenovo: http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...8FBE1B7E9C1B79

5-10% for desktops and Laptops, up to 15% for computer accessories

HP: https://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...egister_app.do

As far as I can tell it varies from item to item, configured a netbook and got about 6% off, but they have good specials and free shipping on most items.

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Feel free to add any sites you know of that others might not and I'll add sections and/or sites to the sections.

Win Free Hardware Courtesy of Palit

A recent entrant into the US hardware retailing industry Palit is running a cute little contest where you have a random chance to win some free hardware. They are probably most known for selling video cards and as far as I know most of their cards have aftermarket coolers so you don't have to worry about some overheating issues recent cards have had.

The game has cute floaty eye monsters of different colors which you must shoot with the corresponding colored shotgun shell. In the fine print it really has nothing to do with killing a certain creature with a certain color shell, but all about being the person to play a randomly generated win game.  As long as you complete the game you have a random chance of winning hardware.

To register and play CLICK HERE

Someone on one of the forums I visited won a HD3850, so it's not impossible.