just a tip for people buying/upgrading

[TaiGuy]

AVIOD at ALL COSTS big retail stores like FUTURE SHOP, BEST BUY, WAL-MART for computer-related parts.
they RIP YOU OFF BIGTIME. If you can, look for a little shabby chinese store not much bigger than your bedroom, those little tiny places usually have the best prices.

If you want an example: (these are in canadian $$s)
Kingston 256MB 266MHz DDR Memory
At Future Shop: $99 (link) (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=0&WLBS=fsweb15&sku_id=0665000FS10018803&catid=&newdeptid=18)
At CanadaComputers:
oops, they dont have such slow memory speeds at CanadaComputers.
Kingston 256MB PC-3200 DDR400 SDRAM (which is 133 MHz faster than the futureshop model:
$59 (link) (http://www.canadacomputers.com/memory.html)
so it's 40% cheaper AND you get better memory!

lets try something else!
Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM Hard Drive (8MB Cache)
Future Shop: $269
CanadaComputers: $156
...ho hum. a bit over 40% saved (again) by going to little shabby chinese place.

lesson: big places like future shop and best buy are terribly overpriced.

[ManagerJosh]

I would also recommend that don't look for these chinese shabby stores. You don't know whether these parts are stolen, defective, etc.

I would just recommend trying to find the best bargain around you can. There are a lot of small retail stores around the place that offer very competitive places.

[TaiGuy]

..most of them you'll find actually ARE chinese shabby stores... just make sure you get a warranty so if the part is defective, you can return/replace it.