I'm probably starting the obvious here, but GO TO THE COMPUTER SHOWS!

I went to the one in vallejo today and saved several hundred dollars easily! Here's some of what I got:
Diamond Viper V770 Ultra Retail - $169
W.D. 9.1GB 7.2KRPM ATA66 Hdd - $129
Win98SE Full - $50

Also saw a CD-RW drive for $70, DVD-ROM for $49 (!!!), 17" monitors for $119 and color cams for $24.