Gateway DX4300-22 upgrade possibilities?

[Gam3r01]

I have a Gateway DX4300-22 computer that is now a few years old. I mainly use this computer for gaming, it is currently running: 6 Gigs of DDR2 ram, Two terabytes of storage (one internal and one external hard drive), an AMD Phenom II Quad-core processor, and an ATI radeon HD 5450 with 512mb of memory. I am really in no need for hard drive space but rather interested in any upgrades that would make it a better gaming rig. I know the motherboard can only support 8gigs of ram, which came as a surprise to me, as there is typically not a maximum ram limit. Also any visual upgrades, such as a acrylic panel, or interior lighting for it would be welcome as well, considering it's a simple black box.

 

[Gam3r01]

Graphics card; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150655

RAM; http://www.provantage.com/crucial-technology-114475~7CIAL5Q3.htm

Are those the best possible upgrades for this specific rig? Because I, sadly, know that 8 gigs of ram is the max.

 

[sudo_smith]

Graphics card; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150655

RAM; http://www.provantage.com/crucial-technology-114475~7CIAL5Q3.htm

Since it has DDR2 RAM I don't think you can upgrade to DDR3.

 

[sudo_smith]

Are those the best possible upgrades for this specific rig? Because I, sadly, know that 8 gigs of ram is the max.

I have the exact same computer and IMO I would upgrade the graphics card if you are looking at gaming. I am looking at the XFX Radeon HD 6670, but you can get any graphics card as long as it has the correct PCI slot. You will also have to upgrade the PSU most likely depending on what video card you get.

The only upgrade I have actually done so far is my CPU fan/heatsink (because the stock one is extremely loud) and if you do that you could probably also overclock.

The best possible upgrade depends on how far you want to go. Of course you could upgrade the motherboard the CPU the RAM and everything else, but it would probably be cheaper just getting a new PC. As I said before I would upgrade the video card, see if you want to upgrade it more then after that I would try to overclock CPU (or get a new one). Just make sure to get a new PSU for any upgrades that would consume more power.