Lian Li MAXIMA Force Extreme PS-A650GB 650W Power Supply Review

System Setup

To test the Lian Li MAXIMA Force Extreme 650W power supply, we connected it to the following test system.

AMD Phenom 9850 2.5GHz Quad Core CPU
Asus M3A78-T 790GX Motherboard
OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 Memory Kit
GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Video Card
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000rpm SATA2 Hard Drive
HighSpeed PC Top Deck Tech Station
Thermaltake SpinQ Heatpipe CPU Cooler

We then put the system through various stress tests to produce our results. First we left the system to idle for 30 minutes to get a baseline. We then fired up Nero Recode 2.0 and rendered a video from VOB files ripped off a DVD to iPod compatible video. This only punishes the CPU and RAM, so we cranked things up a little by running through the entire 3DMark Vantage suite. This stressful test placed load on everything, giving the best cross section of heavy load results. OCCT was used to monitor voltage readings.

Test Results

I would say the effort putting into the quality and stability of this power supply paid off. As you can see in the charts, there was very little variance in voltages changing from activity to activity. Even more promising is that the results are all with acceptable thresholds of the rating for each rail. I’m sure if you started over-loading this PSU with multiples of each component, we might see it blush a bit. But as it stands, this is a rock solid PSU that can produce consistent output.

Noise Levels

As for noise levels, the Lian Li MAXIMA Extreme PSU is whisper quiet. In a quick subjective test (aka using my ear), any noise it produced was indiscernible from the rest of the ambient noise from the system. Digging out the dB meter, I found that the noise level was registering at around 43 dBA, which is typical for this particular setup. Even stopping the fan in the PSU didn’t have a noticeable effect on sound levels. When we started our stress tests back up, the Lian Li MAXIMA Extreme still stayed whisper quiet.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

From a company known for their high quality enclosures and attention to detail and engineering, my expectations for a PSU would be high. I have to say that my expectations have been at the very least met. The Lian Li MAXIMA Force Extreme PS-A650GB 650W power supply operates stable under very stressful conditions, and does so quietly. It manages to pack this great performance into a package smaller then much of the competition.

The MAXIMA Extreme is priced in the same range as some units from PC Power & Cooling and Corsair. This becomes an issue because the MAXIMA Extreme series isn’t modular. This is a tough selling point, as so many manufacturers have modular cables on their performance line of power supplies, and some are the same price or cheaper than this unit. The only other gripe is the LED switch which, while quite welcome does look like a bit of an afterthought. Maybe in future revisions of the PSU, Lian Li can have the switch integrate with the aesthetic of the power supply a little better.

In the end, the Lian Li MAXIMA Force Extreme PS-A650GB 650W power supply is exactly the power supply an enthusiast should be looking at when shopping for a PSU for their gaming rig. The unit definitely proves its performance chops, with stable power output and quiet operation.

Pros