Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits or 1000W, whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's limits are greater than that of the NZXT HALE82 850W, we can test it to the maximum.

Let's start by taking a look at the voltages to see how well this unit did during testing. Starting with the 12V rail, we see 1% regulation from start to finish with a total drop of .18V throughout all the tests. The 5V rail didn't quite fair as well with 2% voltage regulation and a total drop of .13V. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation stays at 2% with a total voltage drop of .11V.

DC output quality was good from start to finish. Starting out, we were clearly able to see a ripple on the scope during Test 1 where we measured noise at a low 15mV peak to peak. This steadily increased as the loads also increased. By the time we had reached around 50% load, the unit ripple had crept up to 27mV. Under full load, we saw that the noise on the 12V rail had crept up to 36mV.

The NZXT HALE82 850W is rated for 80Plus Bronze efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 82%/85%/82% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, the HALE82 850W managed to score a pass while on our test bench. At no time was the unit close to failing for efficiency.

Final Thoughts

NZXT has done an amazing job bringing their second line of power supplies to the market. The new HALE82 units perform excellent all the way around. It is as if they simply took the HALE90, improved the voltage regulation at the cost of efficiency, and offered it at a lower cost.

It still has all of the protections and features that you would expect from an enthusiast unit sans the higher efficiency. Add in the awesome Less Than Three warranty that you normally only see with enterprise equipment and all we can do is highly recommend the HALE82 850W.

If NZXT keeps this up, they will earn themselves quite a name in the power supply industry for years to come.