Questions on upgrading my '08 era PC

[kooj]

I bought my '08 PC from a friend of mine as is and I am looking to upgrade it play the latest games smoothly(especially BF3, kills my PC everytime):

* Zotac GTX 260(Stock)
* Asus P5N-e Sli mobo
* Intel Quadcore Q9300(Stock)
* COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RP-550-PCAR 550W ATX
* 4 Gigs kingston DDR2(800)
* 500 GB HDD
* Prism Multimedia Case(old PC case with only 1 exhaust fan)<Sucks during summer

I don't really have a fixed budget(hoping to round it off at $400~), so I am not looking for anything too overkill, this what I came up with

* Corsair 500R White $109.99

* [MSI Radeon 7950 TF3] $309.99

* [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO] ($30) [OC my CPU?]

Any suggestions? thoughts/ideas I should look into? I am still reading up various resources and guide to get a better understanding of what I need to look out for, so I am still a newbie at this unfortunately

I plan to eventually upgrade my mobo/cpu later as well

Edit: A quick question, I have 2 PCI-e cables from my PSU, however, one connector is 6 pin, and one is 5 pin, will there be problems when I connect to the latest GPU?, my GTX 260 requires two 6 pins, and it still works with 6pin and 5pin connector from my PSU

 

[Knufire]

5pin I think is just missing a ground, so it should be fine? I would wait for an opinion on someone more knowledgeable about older hardware before you take my word on that.

IMO, I'd drop to a 7850 (can play BF3 @ high, 60FPS on 1080P) and a cheaper case, save the money to upgrade your CPU/RAM/Mobile in the future. HAF 912 is pretty good for the price, if you want something nicer, try a Lian Li K9WX.

 

[trekky]

unsure about 5pin
but i love my Haf 912 Adv!
also 7950 why not its a good card
only ~ $100 more


to Knufire Holy Crap your ~45min drive away!

 

[wingman99]

The R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC comes with 2 power adaptors you plug into Peripheral, you will only need to use one.