Hi folks,

I am planning to upgrade my 8600GT to HD 4850. I'm concerned whether my Cooler Master RS-430-PCAR can handle it.

I don't have much components on my machine:
Core2 e6550
Micro ATX motherboard
2 1gb ddr2-800 memory
1 sata 250gb Hard drive
1 dvd-rw drive
3 case fans

Here's my power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Show [...] wer+Supply
29amps on 12v? I'm not very informed about power supply specs.

The official power requirement for 4850 is 450watts. But still, it might work.

if should be just enough provided that ur cpu is not over clocked and ur psu is not too old......

It it was my system i'd plug it in and run it.  You'll have to use the adapter included in most HD4850 GPU boxes to go from molex to PCIe 6 pin. Sapphire includes the adapter, not sure if Diamond does.

Unfortunately that Cooler master PSU is junk. Save yourself the grief and get a new one.
 
This one will do nicely. Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA500 500W
 
It's Seasonic built and single rail.

Yep, no harm in trying. If it works, it'll save you some money on new psu.

PSU's get more unstable the higher they're pushed, especially the cheaper ones. One of the reasons people go overkill and put a 800+W PSU in their case is to get good clean power when the PSU is only using 50% of its capacity.  
 
Even the "minimum" listed by ATI isn't really the minimum. With a single 4850 the whole system might draw 250W of power at peak (generally, depends on what you have in the case obviously). It's just that trying to draw 250W of power out of say a 300W supply is going to make it real unstable.  
 
That's a long way of saying give it a shot if you want. Best thing to do is to get a new PSU, but I think the 4850 would run on that one (with maybe the occasional lock up or bluescreen if you're unlucky).

Since you're not using a power hungry CPU, motherboard and your case isnt loaded up with lots of HDDs and such you can probably sneak in that 4850 without a problem.  
To be on the safe side you could disconnect two of the case fans at first.  Add them back in after you have the new card running stable in your PC.

go on bubbles

Unless it blows up, then he gets to buy a bunch of new hardware.  

Lol, I've always wondered how that happen. It's not like there's explosives in it or anything...

ive had a cheap psu implode. it didnt take any other hardware with it. it was sure as hell loud, imploded at night.

Nice! So how does it implode? Did it get smaller or something?

That was a capacitor exploding. You do have a chance that nothing will fry, you also have a chance that something will. It's a nonlethal game of Russian roulette.

Nonlethal, heh? Do anyone ever get hurt? What if they put their hand on the psu as it happen...

Nearly impossible that you would get hurt, but anything is possible. So, don't go outside or take a shower, because it is dangerous.    
 

It should be ok for now in terms theoretical capacity however I would seriously consider getting a better power supply as soon as the budget permits. That unit is of marginal quality and an old design, not very efficient and not designed for today's systems. Modern power supplies are designed with a greater emphasis on the 12V portion, and corresponding lesser emphasis on the 3.3 and 5v rails. Further, Cooler Master is not a recommended brand for power supplies.

+1
If anything get the Antec earthwatts EA430 430W for $30 (after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371006
30 amps for $30 and has the pcie connector
 
btw: I believe on some models they're changing the oem to Delta.

Still go for the 500w one instead. Their 12v rail ampage may be the same 2x17amps, but one is 360w max load on 12v rails, the other is 408w.

On another note,

360/430=84
That's 84% of total wattage going to 12v rails.

Look at what I use, for comparasion:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817101029

696/850=82
That's 82% of total wattage going to 12v rails.

12v rail is the useful one, which powers cpu, gpu, and harddrives. The bigger portion of total psu power going to 12v rails, the better. I guess brand name does buy you something.