Need Advice Upgrading My Ancient Rig for 1080p @ 120hz Gaming

MoonDoggy-X

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Mar 10, 2015
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Thank you in advance for anyone's advice and patience. I know there have been a lot of questions like this so I'll get straight to the point. I am just getting back into gaming on my computer as of recent. I pretty much missed the past 5 years because I moved to an area with no internet. I built my current computer about 6-7 years ago, and it consists of...

PCU: Intel Core 2 Quad q9550 @2.83ghz
Cooling: OCZ Vendetta Heatsink w/fan
MOBO: EVGA nForce 750i FTW Motherboard
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
RAM: 4gb PC 6400 DDR2 SDram @ 800mhz
Storage: WD Black 640gb HDD
PSU: 650 Watt PSU(don't remember the make)
Case: Cooler Master HAF Case
GPU: EVGA GTX 960 Super SC (formally GTX 285)
Monitor: Vizio 32" 1080p/120hz TV hooked up with HDMI

I know I am in need of some MAJOR upgrades and I plan on building a new system before the end of the year. Right now, I mainly play Star Trek Online, but I want to start playing Inquisition and a few others. When I first got back on STO, my GTX 285 showed its age. I replaced it about a week ago with a GTX 960. The game looks a lot better, but I'm not getting the 120fps I want that give the display its depth. I'm not worried about 4k gaming yet because I don't have a 4k monitor.
All I'm worried about is gaming at 1080p @ 120hz for now. So my questions are...

1) Do I need to upgrade the CPU and RAM to get the frame rate I want, or will running 2 GTX 960s in sli do the trick?

2) If so, can my current system even handle running 2 GTX 960's in sli? I already know I's have to replace the PSU because I wouldn't have enough connectors?

3) For old and new builds, would I just be better off with a better GPU even though I already bought one GTX 960?

Pretty much, I'm asking if I can get what I want from a $300 upgrade(GPU/PSU) or am I forced to go for the $1,000+ full system upgrade to meet my goals? I know I can build a good system for under $1,000, but If I'm going to invest, might as well make it future-proof. Again, any points in the right direction will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.



 
1) Yes, you will need to upgrade the CPU and RAM, at least to 8GB DDR3 1666mhz.
2) Your PSU will be fine, 2 960s won't draw more than 600W even OC'd.
3) Me personally, I would not have gotten that 960, rather I would have gotten a 970.

You'll probably need a new full system, grab another 960 and SLI it.
 


Thanks for the advice. The reason I say I'll need a new PSU for sli is because the GTX 960 uses a 8-pin connector and my current PSU only has one 8-pin and one 6-pin PCI power connectors. Do you have any suggestions on where to get reasonably priced components? Or brands, good or bad? Been out of the game for a while. I started looking up EVGA, but it doesn't look like they're much in the under $200 MOBO game anymore.