The 7600 GT AGP version would be much better then the 6200 card or X1550.  Your system takes a AGP slot card so the X1550 being PCI, I would dump that idea.

 

The 7600 GT card needs a molex Y power cable which many retail boxes come with but some do not so make sure the one you get does to eliminate the need to find one later.  You hook up one end of the molex Y cable to the video card itself then the other two ends to two free 4 pin power connectors that come from the power supply. 

 

The 7600 GT will work with your current 250 watt power supply

Thank you.  Do you have a picture of how the Molex connections are made?  Or will this be explained adequately in the retail box?  I've noted several posts commenting on the heat generated by the 7600 GT AGP.  Is this an issue or only an issue of the noise accompanying the operation of the cooling fan?  Thanks again.

No pictures available that I could find on how to hook up, but not difficult.

What you do is when the card arrives, hopefully with the Molex Y power cable with it, you connect one end to the card itself. The other two ends you connect to two available 4 pin power connectors from the power supply.

 

Part of your manual linked below.  Scroll down to the power supply itself and look for the cables numbered as shown.  These are the 4 pin power connectors.  You seem to have more then enough for the hook up.

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/sm/techov.htm#1084976

 

DC Power Connectors P3, P5, P6, P8 and P9

This is what the Molex Y power cable looks like

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=12-201-006-03.jpg&Image=12-201-006-02.jpg%2c12-201-006-03.jpg%2c12-201-006-04.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&WaterMark=1&Item=N82E16812201006&Depa =0&Description=APEVIA+1+x+4Pin+To+2+x+4Pin+Cable

Very helpful.  Thanks again.

 What would be a good GPU for me to upgrade to with the below listed specs.

 

 

Dimension 4600, Northwood Pentium IV 3.0GHz
Rosewill 1GB+Elixir 1GB - PC3200 DDR 400MHz (2 sticks/set)
WDC 160GB (Master)+WDC 320GB (Slave) - IDE HDD
ATI Radeon 9800pro (9800se softmod w/Omega)
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Dell E172FP Color Monitor (17in Flat Screen)
Lite-On DVD SHD-16P1S (DVD-Rom Drive)
Lite-On DVDRW LH-20A1H (20x DVD+/-RW)
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W

---

@Sheisty wrote:

 What would be a good GPU for me to upgrade to with the below listed specs.

 

 

Dimension 4600, Northwood Pentium IV 3.0GHz
Rosewill 1GB+Elixir 1GB - PC3200 DDR 400MHz (2 sticks/set)
WDC 160GB (Master)+WDC 320GB (Slave) - IDE HDD
ATI Radeon 9800pro (9800se softmod w/Omega)
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W

---

 

A little advise Sheisty.  You should post your own question separately and not tag onto someone eles thread so as to give the original poster the full thread to him/her self.  :smileywink:

 

nVidia Cards to consider

 

7900 GT AGP

7950 GT AGP

 

ATI card to consider

 

Radeon 3850

Thanks a lot for the advice on the card and community board.

The install went pretty well but I ran into one difficulty.  I was able to connect one end of the molex cable to the power supply via the P3 connector.  However, I wasn't able to connect the second end of the cable to the power supply owing to a parity problem:  the other 'male' connectors from the power supply (P5 and P7) were already being used by the hard and CD drives.  The remaining free connectors had 'female' connectors (as was the free end of the molex) - thus no connection to the second end was made.

 

We went ahead and 'completed' the install with the one end of the molex cable 'free' (i.e. only one connection between the power supply and the video card).  The video performance looks great.  Question though is whether we should seek to get some sort of adaptor to make the second connection of the molex to one of the remaining free four pin P connectors.  Would this give better performance or prolong the life of the video card?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I had a nVidia 7800 GS card on my old Dim 4400 system and only used one 4 pin power cable not two and all was well even to this day.  Think you will be fine since the card is not all that power hungry and in need of both conectors...

Great - we'll leave it as it is.  Thanks for your help.