NZXT’s second entry in the power supply market is the HALE82 series. Basically this is a much less expensive sibling of their original HALE90 series we reviewed a while back.
Based on information from PlugLoadSolutions (the certification authority for the 80Plus program), the NZXT HALE82 850W (pdf) internals are actually a SeaSonic SS-850AM (pdf) power supply. The 750W comes from the SS-750AM, and the 650W comes from (you probably guessed it) the SS-650AM.
The HALE82 has traded the unusual bright white outer shell of the HALE90 for a much more conventional black, the lone exception being the exhaust fan. The hardwired cables are sleeved just like before, and the modular cables are the same flat, long cables.
The HALE82 series comes with ATX, two 8-pin CPU, and two 6/8-pin PCIe power cables hardwired. Everything else uses modular cables. A big difference from the HALE90 is the lack of universal sockets—the HALE82 uses two 8-pin cables for PCIe and four 6-pin cables for everything else. The actual device connection count is six 4-pin molex, eight SATA, zero floppy, two PCIe 6-pin, and four PCIe 6+2 pin plugs.
NZXT offers a five year warranty on their power supplies. Should anything happen during that time, they will pay for three day shipping both ways and will cross-ship a replacement power supply if you choose to provide credit card information. All that’s required on your end is to register the power supply, pack it up, and attach a pre-paid shipping label. NZXT even has a comic to describe the experience. True, it’d be great to never need the service but it’s nice to know you’re covered if something goes wrong.
The combined wattage rating for our review sample is 850W—enough to power at least two high-end GPUs plus all other components. The 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 25 amp loads each (150W max), the single 12V rail is able to pull 70 amps (840 watts max) by itself. This should be more than enough for most sane builds.
Testing
The Hale82 power supply performs very well. Naturally, the power usage will be slightly higher than the 80Plus Gold-rated HALE90 power supply. There really isn’t anything to complain about here.
In fact, the only complaint to be found about the HALE82 is its phantom load, or power usage when the computer is turned off. Our review unit draws 1.8 watts in its standby state, which is rather disappointing, especially considering the HALE90 used no power in an off state. It’s really only a minor complaint though.
The HALE82 850W sells for $139.99 (plus shipping) on Newegg. Of the brands I’d be comfortable recommending, today’s review unit is one of the least expensive power supplies of its type (850W, modular, 80Plus bronze or higher). In fact, only one other brand, Thermaltake, sells an equivalent supply for less and it’s not by much.
If you’re looking for a new PSU for a basic system build, this unit would make a decent choice.
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