1) Started off with a broken GA-EX58-UD4P which I got for free. It was helluva broken mobo, but I've managed to get it fixed!
It needed extensive straightening of pins on the LGA1366 socket and some soldering on a couple of ripped PCB tracks.
2) Combined with a deal on used Xeon X5570 and three DDR3 sticks for $50 it was already a good start.
3) Met a fellow electronics hobbyist, who happened to be obsessed with OpenCV and image processing. Dude had 5 videocards laying around for various purposes. He generously provided GTX750Ti for half the market price (around ~$60)
4) Office closing sale in Kiev got me a cool 450W Zalman PSU for a case of beer (beer is cheaper in Ukraine, so around $10). As a backup I had a 400W Chieftech, which was later dismantled to be a lab PSU
5) An old generic beige ATX mid tower was in the garage
6) It was probably a pricing mistake in local "Eldorado" electronics supermarket, but I got a crappy, but still 22" 1080p display for $80 (it was listed as correct model, but with incorrect specs). ...or maybe they just felt like selling it $15-$20 cheaper.
Next step was to find a viable trade, preferably without cash involved. Sold that Xeon to my neighbor for his server rig, while MoBo went somewhere to another side of the country.
After spending a few weeks on my laptop I contacted a friend, whom I sold Rampage II GENE and i7-920 few years ago and he sold it back to me and it was nice to see it working as before!
"What about storage?" you'd ask. Well, this is not a problem when you have a laptop which you don't use. It was sad experience, but it got me through until I saved $180 to buy a 240GB SSD.
For a period of 2-3 months
The moral of this story: sometimes you have to get out of the house and dig through old sh*t in the garage to get some shweeet deals