Kids building computers: Where to get parts?

[Guido Bartolucci]

I've started helping out with a newly formed school (Mosaic Sudbury School in Clifton) and since the kids want a computer I said that I'd help them put one together assuming we can scrounge up enough parts. 

The school is different from what we're used to as the kids can spend their time learning however they feel is best, and this includes making stuff. For this computer project they're going to need to figure out what parts they need and how they need to be put together and then actually do it. I also want them to make decisions about where to put the money (better CPU vs more RAM vs better GPU).

I did this with my six-year-old last year when he said that he wanted a computer that could run Scrap Mechanic (a builder game on Steam that requires Windows). It was an awesome experience for him (and me too!).

I'm willing to foot the bill for the parts but I'd like to seed the collection of parts with cheap used stuff first. Do any of you have any suggestions as to where to get parts for this project? In Seattle we had an awesome place call RePC that had rows upon rows of bins of old computer parts. Is there anything like this here? And if any of you have any old parts you are willing to part with I can talk it over with the kids and see if they might want to buy them.

Quick Warning: The kids will most definitely be playing video games on it so if you think they should be listening to lectures instead and this doesn't sit well with you then please pretend you didn't see this post. :-) There will definitely be some programming going on too, but I figured I'd scare away the anti-video game people first.

guido.

[Adam Simonyi]

PCPartPicker.com is an excellent resource, as you select parts it guarantees each is compatible and you'll get a survey of several sites and which has it listed for the lowest price. 

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[Jonathan Day]

I agree with Adam on PCPartPicker.com, the one addition is to check Newegg and such when you are ready to purchase. You can sometimes refurbished parts for much cheaper, or even better parts for what you were going to spend anyway.

[bruce]

what kind of pc parts??

what year!!

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[Guido Bartolucci]

We have the periphery: PSU, keyboard, mouse, SSD, monitor, so we now need the core:

- CPU (Sandy Bridge or later, or AMD equivalent)

- Motherboard (Probably an LGA 1155 or 1151), form factor doesn't matter since we'll probably mount it on a piece of wood

- GPU (GTX 750-ish performance ~ medium power GPU from 5 years ago?)

- RAM (4-8 GB)