Upgrading my system

As most of you know, it's nearing the Christmas season here in the US. I'm looking in to a few things, but also looking to upgrade my PC. In another thread, I've learned I need a new RAM Stick, and I'd just like to upgrade them both, to get the optimal performance and speed out of my PC. Thinking about getting possibly 4GB RAM sticks, not sure if that's too much, or too little. I do some gaming, so that may be a factor of how much I need. I also would like to upgrade my graphics card. Not sure what's the best for your money out there, but total looking to spend less than 100$ or at least around there. If this is the wrong subject to put it under, could a Moderator please move it? Thanks and I look forward to your suggestions! Thanks!

Please fill in your system specs fully and properly to help us get figure out what is compaitable with your current system

use a tool like Sevenforums tool, speccy or cpu id for the information required

Sorry about that, updated all my info that I could find. Hope that helps.

The stuff you've posted is helpful, but there's a lot that can't be gotten from it, like:

How many DIMM slots does it have? What the largest capacity of each?

Does the PC have a PCI-E graphics slot?

If yes, is it limited to low-profile cards, or full-height cards less than some length?

What are the PSU (power supply unit) specs? Appliance PCs tend to be weak in that area, as regards having enough to support an add-in graphics card. (High-end cards can consume up to 300W, all by themselves.)

We may be able to find a lot of that, if you can tell us the Lenovo model number. (Documentation that came with the PC? Sticker on the back of the PC?)

If all of that comes together for you, and you're prepared to drop $100US on a graphics card, my guess is that one based on the Radeon HD 7750 may be your best choice. (I didn't do a lot of looking, but it has a favorable reputation.) The minimum recommended PSU for it is 400W. I'd place a small bet (5¢) that you don't have one.

DIMM Slots: 2
PSU Specs: Around 285W
Product Family: IdeaCentre K330B
PC does not have a PCI-E Graphics Slot from what I have seen. I looked inside, cannot find anything.
@ Crucial, I found my PC, here's the RAM info: Computer memory upgrades for Lenovo IdeaCentre K330B Desktop/PC from Crucial.com

I'd like to spend 100$ on RAM and Graphics Cards total, not each (EX: 50$ on RAM, 50$ on Graphics Cards), hope this clears up some confusion.

ZachFeen said:

DIMM Slots: 2
PSU Specs: Around 285W
Product Family: IdeaCentre K330B
PC does not have a PCI-E Graphics Slot from what I have seen. I looked inside, cannot find anything.
@ Crucial, I found my PC, here's the RAM info: Computer memory upgrades for Lenovo IdeaCentre K330B Desktop/PC from Crucial.com

I'd like to spend 100$ on RAM and Graphics Cards total, not each (EX: 50$ on RAM, 50$ on Graphics Cards), hope this clears up some confusion.

I guess I figured that 4GB of RAM was sufficient.

It has 2 DIMM slots, maximum 4GB each, total 8 GB. You could save a few dollars on the RAM. However, Crucial guarantees compatibility, so that may be the way to go.

According to Lenovo, the K330B has a single PCI-E X16 slot, which is compatible with most of the graphics cards on the market.

http://download.lenovo.com/UserFiles...0(English).pdf

I can't explain why you couldn't see it, if it was present as claimed.

The 280W PSU is low. Newegg listed a K330B with a Radeon HD 6450 1GB graphics card:

Newegg.com - lenovo IdeaCentre K330B (77471QU) Desktop PC Intel Core i5 2310(2.90GHz) 8GB DDR3 1.5TB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6450 (1 GB) Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

so you might be able to use that. The least expensive ones at www.newegg.com begin at about $35 plus shipping. I don't know how much of a gain you'd see over the integrated graphics, but it must be better.

verify your system make and model first, you are better off getting 2x4gb of higher quality, higher speed ram (think 1600mhz or 1866mhz) it wont make a big diffrence but in some cases it will be felt. ram is cheep these days , in the uk you can get 2x4 1866mhz ram for under £30 ($48)

From what I understand, my graphics card is okay? No need to upgrade my RAM (I will need to buy a new stick because one has something wrong with it, discussed on my other forum post)? Well, is there anything else that you guys would recommend that helps a computer? New cooling fan? New case? New power supply? I've included some photos of my PSU and the stickers on my computer showing some details that could be helpful (You can see my toe in one of 'em )