Looking for slight upgrade/replacement for 9600GT

jnd

Honorable
Oct 29, 2013
4
0
10,510
I play Lord of the Rings Online and, for whatever reason, the game hates my Nvidia 9600GT. I keep having strange issues with it. After a few minutes or an hour of playing my screen just goes black, the sound loops, and the graphics fan spins up. I have to hard reset. I've tried everything (drivers, OS reinstall, changing settings, etc.), but it looks like I will just have to replace the card.

Spending as little money as possible, but getting the same or better performance, what would you guys suggest to buy? I'm not loyal to Nvidia. ATI might even be better since they have less issues with LOTRO. I'd like to continue running the game at high resolution and with high settings, which the 9600GT is actually pretty good at.

I've looked in the forum, but most of the cards people are suggesting are out of stock now, since they're a bit older.

My specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Due e6550 2.33Ghz
MOBO: Asus P5Ne SLI
GPU: EVGA GeForce 9600GT
PSU: 500W Antec PSU
RAM: 2GB
OS: Windows XP
Preferred website: Doesn't matter. I'm located in Canada if that helps. I also wouldn't mind second hand cards if they're reliable.
Resolution: 1920x1080

Thanks very much for your help!
 

Traemandir

Honorable
Oct 17, 2013
23
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10,520
Off the top of my head I would suggest you get a nVidia GTX460. It is about twice as good as your current card and won't break the bank or bottle neck TOO excessively.

EDIT: My heart is with nVidia, but it does seem that ATI has better support for LOTRO, so you might want to go with the previous Radeon suggestion.
 

jnd

Honorable
Oct 29, 2013
4
0
10,510
Can I trouble you guys with a follow-up question?

I've looked online for second-hand cards in my city and the following three are available:

1) Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 - $60
2) ATI Radeon 6770 1GB - $50
3) Gigabyte (GV-R667D3-1GI) Radeon HD 6670 1GB (128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16) - $50

Would any/all of these work for my purposes? I'm only interested in playing LOTRO and if I can save $20-30 + shipping, it would go a long way to balancing my non-existent gaming budget.

If none of them work, I'll just order the HD 7750.

Thanks again!
 

jnd

Honorable
Oct 29, 2013
4
0
10,510


Thank you!