Ultra X3 600W & 1,000W PSUs

Modular Madness

All the cables and connectors are undoubtedly unique and completely fantastic - there is no need for braiding or even colour coordinating the wires into red, yellow and black. Even the ATX power connector is modular, which is slightly strange since you'll always want to use the ATX connector, unless there was a choice of lengths; which would be exceptionally cool and niche, but unfortunately, there isn't more than one in the box.

I had completely dismissed the point of this until Joe had to install a PSU in the last Lian Li case review we did, as the V350 was fraught with strict hardware requirements. Considering we have a pretty comprehensive selection of PSUs sitting around the labs for him to choose from, none of them fit inside the V350 until he tried the Ultra X3 with its modular ATX connector.

That might be something to say about the design of the case more than anything, but it does mean those who are working in a confined environment or are seriously strict about cable management should certainly make time to investigate these units.


Another big plus point is that some are of varying lengths so you have a choice of application. There's less Molex or SATA power connectors on the end of the cables, usually one or two, instead of three, four or more, which does mean you have to use more plugs from the PSU, but because the cables are flat they're easily stackable to take less space, providing you take the time to organise things properly. Rather than trying to bend and coax them out the way like a normal braided cable, these are easily folded out the way.


Disappointingly, but understandably, the 600W model does not support high end multi-GPU configurations, despite the fact we've never had a system exceed ~550W at the wall during testing (and that was with a 3.00GHz quad-core and a pair of Radeon HD 2900 XTs). This would be cutting it fine with several hard drives and there's no telling what the power requirements of future graphics cards will be.

It's limited to either a single card that uses a couple of PCI-Express connectors (6 or 8-pin) or two cards with a single 6-pin connector, meaning that you'll still be able to pack a pair of GeForce 8800 GTs in your system with the 600W model. This is the vast majority of the market still and we don't expect or recommend those investing in some costly graphics cards to skimp on a PSU for them either. The 800W does support high end multi-GPU configurations, just like the 1,000W although it's twice the price of the 600W.

There are a few more connectors overall for the 1,000W unit, but there's not really that much more on offer. It's certainly not in the same class as the Enermax Galaxy 1,000W which supports umpteen hard drives, but the Ultra should have enough on offer for most people. Does that mean it's a proper 1,000W though? Why make 1,000 watts of capacity if you don't expect people to power dozens of components? The only way is to find out...