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- Date:
- Tuesday , December 27, 2011
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
NZXT HALE82 850W Power Supply Review
NZXT comes to us touting its HALE82 PSU telling us it has high working efficiencies, 100% Japanese caps, a modular design, and "Keeping it Safe" over voltage and short circuit protections. And considering this is a unit built by Seasonic, it might just be one that is worth looking at. Is it anything special though?
Overview
The first thing we are going to look at with the NZXT HALE82 850W is its packaging, accessories, and documentation. While normally none of these items is a make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there are cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing, and use more efficient.
The packaging for the NZXT HALE82 850W is very similar to that of the previous NZXT HALE90 750W, only black instead of white. Included on this packaging are a number of advertising points and key features. Among the points of note on the front of the packaging are the fact that that the unit is rated for 80Plus Bronze and that the unit has a 5 year warranty. In regards to the efficiency, a quick check of the 80Plus website finds that this unit is indeed rated for 80Plus Bronze. On the warranty front we see that the unit is covered by a 5 year warranty. However, there has been a bit of a change to that warranty since we saw the NZXT HALE90 750W. Indeed, now that 5 year warranty with registration has a prescribed set of steps so you know how long it will take to get your replacement back:
This exclusive service program will have you fall in love with your NZXT power supplies all over again. In less than three simple steps you can receive superior service at no additional cost and get back in the game! Like a medic, NZXT will revive your PSU the moment it fails because we understand how vital it is that we keep the heart of your PC constantly powered.
First, you can redeem our awesome service simply by registering your product or scanning your invoice online the day of your purchase. Second, drop off your dead PSU in the original retail box with the printed Pre-paid shipping label at your local Fedex.
Once you have fulfilled these easy steps, we will have a replacement processed at our warehouse ready to ship. There are two alternative ways for shipping. If you choose to provide us credit card information, we will send one out the next day. Otherwise, we will ship one after we received and tested your dead power supply. Your unit will arrive straight to your door within 3 business days. It's that simple and you will know NZXT cares <3 . Applicable to US and Canada only.
While other brands may process RMA’s in the same time frame, NZXT seems to be one of the first we have seen that is guaranteeing such a time frame. Support from brands that are not typically considered powerhouses in their field is always a bit suspect so it is good to see that NZXT is making some strides towards addressing this point among users. Moving on, we see that there is also an efficiency and fan speed graph on the packaging in addition to the connector count (reproduced below) and the power table (reproduced below). Lastly, we find that the NZXT HALE82 850W is not advertised as being certified for any level of multi-GPU support. However if the numbers below are true when test the unit, most multi-GPU configurations that the unit can physically support should be possible.
The power label for the NZXT HALE82 850W is very much like what we saw from the Corsair TX850 V2 and XFX Core Edition 850W. As with those units, this unit features a single 12v rail with a total capacity of 70A, or ~99% of the unit's possible DC output if necessary. The minor rails have a total 5v/3.3v capacity of up to 150W. Paired with this DC output capacity and arrangement we find an interesting increase in PCI-Express connectors to a total of 6. In addition to that, the unit sports 6 Molex connectors and 8 SATA connectors. With this arrangement the HALE82 850W should be suitable for most any enthusiast system, however the 6 PCI-Express connectors is perhaps a bit more than is really practical for this unit.
Upon opening the NZXT HALE82 850W packaging we see the power supply, some modular cables in a pouch, mounting screws, and user manual. The user manual is 12 pages long in 8 languages. The manual includes the power table (for all three members of the HALE82 line), installation instructions, connector counts (for all three members of the HALE82 line), and the warranty information. This is all the general information that you want in a manual but we have seen far more complete manuals from other brands.