PC-bore - be thrifty? PC upgrade path

[dcharlie]

ALRIGHT GENTLEMEN, THIS SONG I'M GOING TO WRAP ABOUT IS CALLED "SAVING MONEY DIRTY POOR UPGRADE SCANDAL"

So - i can't really justify spunking out on a PC , so i've been looking at the upgrade path.

I guess all i really want to do is play mainly older games at 1080p in 3d and want to see if what i am planning will do the trick.
My monitor will NOT like Nvidia for 3D until someone updates/hacks in support that isn't side-by-side. I'm sticking to the ATI route.

The old PC is a stock Quad core Q6600 running on a Gigabyte X38 board. The power unit is 550W , only has 1 6-plug connector.

So - here's what i'm thinking :

1) Crucial 64 SSD to reinstall W7 on
2) Convert the two Raptors into a semi-fast store as secondary - with all other data on USB connected storage (bulky stuff like media, ahhmehartiesroms etc)
3) the 8800GTS died so i'm running from an ArcadeVGA :/ - upgrade this to a 6850 (OC'ed) - only needs one 6pin, short so there's no worries fitting my legacy case (which is big enough as it is but some of the longer cards might push it)
4) upgrade ram from 4 to 8 gig

What think yee, Bore? is this an exercise in folly?

thanks
dc.

[pilonv1]

Only issue I see may be the 6850, but that may be tied to your PSU. I've got a 5850 with my 550w psu, which is slightly ahead of the 6850 for most benchmarks.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4260/amds-radeon-hd-6790-coming-up-short-at-150/5

CPU may end up being an issue too but I'm not as up on that stuff.

[cool breeze]

how old are older games? because 3D is pretty taxing on the hardware

[pilonv1]

That's the spirit, more GPU power is always a good thing