Your character doesn't get wiped. Just log back into the server you played on previously and it should still be there. You should 't hop though. There really is plenty of loot. Just play the game. Explore and you shall find.
You should be fine, Im using a 660m on an i7 with 8gb ram and it looks real pretty. Obviously you won't be able to crank it all the way up, with a little tweaking you will find the right settings.