So someone told me that to upgrade to these new standards I need a new graphics card and CPU, and for those I need a new motherboard which requires new ram. Well, this sucks... I don't have half a grand lying around to be used for hobbies. What do you think?

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.3GHz
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GT 545

I'm very computer savvy so I googled how to find motherboard information. This is what the command prompt spat out:
Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC., Product: P5P43TD, Version: Rev X.0x