Unless a computer has components installed in multiples, it’s power needs usually aren’t high enough to warrant a large power supply. Ever the most modern of systems only needs a power supply rated between 550W and 750W. It’s not until you start installing several hard drives and running them in RAID, and multiple video cards, and an elaborate set of internal lights that you need to look at the 1000W and 1500 behemoths on the market today. It’s with this observation in mind that we are taking a look at the product being reviewed today: The Lian Li MAXIMA Force Extreme PS-A650GB 650 power supply.
Features and Specifications
The Lian Li MAXIMA Force Extreme PS-A650GB 650W power supply is from the veteran case manufacturer. Lian Li is known for their quality and attention to detail when applied in their cases, so the expectations placed on this product is a little high. The MAXIMA Force series of power supplies is targeted at the gamer market. It sports such high end features as Japanese manufactured capacitors, 120mm ball bearing fan, multiple 12V rails, and 80-plus rated output. For more features and specifications, check out the product home page.
As for pricing, the Lian Li MAXIMA Force 650W can be found for a fairly reasonable price. Newegg.com has the unit listed for $119.99 USD as of writing this article, and the average price from around the net is between $120 and $140 USD. This is similarly priced to other high end 650W power supplies, and makes for a tough choice on price alone. We still need to see if that Lian Li quality that permeates their line of cases follows into their power supply line. Let’s go.
What’s In The Box?
In addition to the power supply, Lian Li includes a few extra accesories. This pretty well rounds out the package, as these are the types of accessories you’ll find included with most power supplies. There’s a heavy duty power cable, 4 screws, and a manual. Those expecting sound dampening gaskets and fancy case stickers should remember the price tag on the MAXIMA Extreme. It’s all supposed to be going towards built quality and stability. Here’s where we find out if that focus succeeded.
Back in Black
The first thing you notice about the Lian Li MAXIMA Force power supply is its size. Compared to other power supplies carrying a similar power rating, this 650W is rather diminutive. It’s actually a few centimeters shorter then the Mushkin XP-650 power supply that’s been powering my main rig for nearly three years. For those who may be installing their system is shorter cases like the Antec P182, this is nice bonus as it’ll make installing the power supply much easier.
The rear of the Lian Li MAXIMA 650W is a completely ventilated open grate. There isn’t a fan installed; that is saved for the bottom of the unit. Actually the only obstruction on the rear of this PSU is the power cable, and two toggle switches. The orange one is the obvious choice for the hard power switch, but the silver toggle switch is a mystery that looks somewhat out of place.
Once you turn the PSU over, the mystery is solved. The 120mm variable speed fan on the bottom of the Lian LI MAXIMA power supply is made of transparent plastic, which is a good choice since it’s illuminated by four blue LEDs. The aforementioned switch turns this lighting effect on and off should you wish to do so.
Looking beyond the fan, you can see a couple rows of copper heatsinks being used to cool the internal components. This is an interesting choice of material, as most of the heatsinks found in power supplies use aluminum. As for the other components, Lian Li states they use high quality Japanese capacitors in their power supplies, which should hopefully aid in stability when we hook this up to our test system.
Making The Connection
As you’ve probably noticed by now, the Lian Li MAXIMA Extreme 650W power supply uses permanently mounted cables, as opposed to the modular ones found on many other “performance” power supplies. This may add to the cable clutter in your case, but it does save costs that can be otherwise spent on shoring up the quality and stability of this unit. This is the complete list of attached connectors.
- 20+4 Pin Main Connector x1
- 4+4 (8)Pin 12V x1
- 6+2 Pin PCIe x2
- 4 Pin Molex x7
- 4 Pin Floppy x1
- SATA x6
Depending on what you are using for components, this configuration may only leave you with the ability to install and power one high end PCIe video card with the existing PCIe connectors. If you so dare, you can use any adaptors included with your video card to power it off the Molex connectors. Mid range and low end cards that only sport one external power connector should be able to hooked up in pairs.
As for the cables themselves, though they aren’t modular they are at least sheathed in black plastic mesh. This includes the lengths between connectors. All this is done to reduce any tangling that may occur in your nest of cables, and to simply provide a clean look to the interior or your system.
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
- Small size makes installation in tight spaces easier
- It runs quiet, almost silent.
- Stable power delivery from all rails under load
Cons
- Not Modular
- A little pricey
- LED switch looks tacked on
Overall Rating: 9.0/10.0
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