How should I upgrade this PC?

[Blade1130]

This was my first gaming PC, though it was never really top-of-the-line it is starting to struggle. The GPU's at the end of its life, newer drivers won't install, a couple games flat don't start at all, and a lot of games are forced to run on minimum settings. I am a computer science major, but I'm much more programming and software, so I haven't really kept up on graphics or hardware much at all.

I'm lucky enough to have a decent amount of money to burn, though I'm looking to upgrade, not replace, so hopefully this won't be too bad. What here is holding me back, and what's good to replace? I imagine the graphics card and possibly processor should be replaced, but by what? And should I change anything else while I'm at it?

Specs (from dxdiag):
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HPE-460Z
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1045T Processor (6 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8184MB RAM
Page File: 2952MB used, 13413MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 5570
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Display Memory: 1772 MB
Dedicated Memory: 2032 MB
Shared Memory: 3835 MB

I believe this is the spec page of what I bought:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentSubCategory?tmp_rule=84354&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=4343024

Thanks for any help, I may be a comp sci major, but I admit I don't really know what I'm doing here.

 

[SnowyGamester]

Not a bad rig you've got there, but yeah the graphics card is by far it's biggest failing...definitely consider replacing that first. You'll probably also need to upgrade your PSU to be able to handle a more powerful GPU, though that may be difficult if there is only space for an undersized power supply - you might want to open it up and check that as I can't really tell what's in there from that specs page. As for what you should actually get it depends on what you want and how much you want to spend...really anything over $150 is going to be a substantial upgrade. Depending how far you go you might also need a CPU upgrade otherwise you could end up with a bottleneck.

 

[Albino Boo]

Yup Graphics card is the worst item and the easiest to upgrade. As Snowy said, you will probably have to up the PSU at the same time. Another easy upgrade is add more memory, win7 64 home premium with take up to 16gb , so you can double your current amount. Your CPU is getting a little old, on games like total war shogun II you will bottleneck.

 

[AWAR]

I would also suggest an SSD if you have money left but make sure you get a new PSU anyways. HP desktops tend to have really shitty PSUs.

 

[Comocat]

I like this site

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

Find your current specs then look at what is better.