I've got a 1.2 gig processor and 512 RAM, but I recently got a Radeon 9600 Pro... seems to work fine for me, it helped some stuff, but I'm sure it would help a lot more if my computer was up to date. If I were you, I'd just do what ForceX said and upgrade each component each time you get a haul of money enough to spend on the crazy prices of some of this stuff. If your lucky, you'll find it cheap.