Help me upgrade my Pre-built PC?

[patr33k]

AMD Phenom™ IIX6 1045T Processor GHz 2.70
8 GIG RAM
AMD Radeon HD 6450 Graphic card

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02679437&prodSeriesId=5035344


So yeah thats my computer spec... It was prebuilt my dad bought this from bestbuy and decided to give me this as a graduation gift.
My question is with a 350$ budget (i have 500$ but would like to save if not just list me the options with the 500$) is there anything i can upgrade on this computer to make it better? And can i overclock it? (Its not in the bios screen so idk?) I would like some suggestion about what i should do.

[Comae]

Buy a ventirad to oc your cpu then buy an hd 7970 or a 7950.

[patr33k]

What is a ventirad? And im going to let tigerdirect do all these upgrades for me if possible is that bad? And how much should it be overclocked? about the GPU ive been told to buy a 7970 from users @ Pcsx2 but is that the best one i should get with my budget?

[NaturalViolence]

I'm assuming ventirad means HSF (heatsink and fan) in another language. You will also have to upgrade the motherboard to be able to overclock. OEM motherboards usually have a locked bios with no overclocking options.

For dolphin you'll want to upgrade your cpu first. If you're trying to improve performance in pc games then you should upgrade the graphics card first.

[patr33k]

Okay so motherboard,heatsink & fan, cpu & gpu now any suggestions on what i should purchase?

[Comae]

Test if you can oc now, if you can avoid to buy a mobo.
You cpu is still good, not the best choice for emulation but still very good in games and apps, if I where you ill keep it until next gen.
In gpu you can go on a sapphire 7970 vapor x, its an excellent choice imho very powerfull with modified pcb and voltage unlocked, its also cheaper than a DCUII.

[NaturalViolence]

You might be able to overclock using amd overdrive.

[patr33k]

Uhm, what can i use to overclock D: ? Like i said theres no options in bios...

Edit:
Yeah tried AMD overdrive didn't really give me an option to go higher than it is.

[NaturalViolence]

By "didn't really give me an option" do you mean the options were greyed out or do you mean that you just couldn't keep it stable?

[patr33k]

I went to the Performance Control tab>Clock\Voltage> Highest is 2.7 > Turbo is 3.2> I tried to turn on turbo to make it 3.2 > Hit Apply > Meter stays the same @ 2.7 ...