I have this Dell Dimension 4300S system that I am converting to a media handler (TV, DVD, music, etc.) The original system came with a pretty weak graphics card--16MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra. I want to upgrade it, but I don't know what type of card it is. That is, it's about 3/4 of the width of a "normal" video card, because the case is a mini-tower. Is there a special name for this type of video card, and can anyone recommend a good upgrade? Thanks!

Okay, Go download EVEREST Home Edition to find out what kind of expansion card slots you have ( Such as PCI AGP...ISA lol ) And if your going to be making a media computer out of it I would suggest getting a ATI all wonder graphics card if you have a AGP slot, If not then there was posts in the forum earlier that states what the best cards you can get for PCI http://www.computing.net/gaming/wwwboard/forum/4549.html If you plan on doing all these things keep in mind that this system was not built for it. Its a dell and unless if you get the "media center" from them you will be limited in some ways. Upgrades you should look into are of course the video card as stated earlier but also RAM and Hard disks. Since you will need storage room for all that media.

Processor P4@ 2.6 Ghz, FSB@535Mhz
RAM 512MB's PC2700/32001 256 stick of each. Hard Disk Drives 1 40 GB HD 1 10 GB HD CD/DVD Drives CDRW52X

These are usually called low profile cards...most common use is for desktop machines that simply don't have the room for a full size card.

Your Dell comes with a "service tag number" that will tell you (or us) exactly how that thing shipped from the factory and allow us to identify possible upgrades.

A quick look on the Dell support pages found that you have an agp 2x/4x 1.5v slot which allows you to upgrade to a pretty wide range of video cards. Next thing you need to do though is determine if you have room to install a full height card in your case. The other alternative is to do a search for low profile agp video cards.

Thanks for the info. Here the service tag and specs:

Service Tag: 5ZDB511

It's the 400 FSB model.

There's definitely not enough room for a full height card, because I've already opened it up and tried one. When the minitower is in the horizontal position, the video card is oriented vertically, or perpendicular to the MOBO. Therefore there is simply not enough height for a full height video card. Dell doesn't show any video card upgrade options, so any advice on a compatible low-profile card would be appreciated.

BTW, I've already upgraded to 512 MB RAM, put in a DVD-ROM drive, and I'm networked to a server with dual 250MB HDs, so I can handle the media. I'm using Intervideo's Home Theater 2 to create a "poor man's" media center. The only missing piece is the video card.

I don't normally recommend the FX5200, but I ran across this while trolling at ZipZoomFly:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=323249

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200
Asus A9550 128MB/128-bit
Gamer Edition
WinME/WinXP Pro