NZXT HALE82 N 650-watt Power Supply Review

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing

Ever since NZXT entered the power supply market in 2008 with the launch of the NZXT HALE90 series, we've kept on eye on what they've offered starting with the HALE90 850W. Earlier this year, NZXT expanded their lineup with the HALE82 series which we also reviewed here and here. So far, we have been quite pleased with what we have seen from NZXT and were excited when offered a chance to look at their next power supply series before it even hit store shelves.

The unit on our bench today from NZXT is the HALE82 N 650W power supply. It is meant to provide power towards the lower end of the spectrum and does so without modular cabling and less connectors than the previously mentioned HALE82 power supplies. It is 80Plus Bronze rate for efficiency, hence the HALE82 branding, but the N denotes that all the cables are natively wired.

Don't let the name fool you though, as NZXT has done much more than just remove the modular cabling. The HALE82 N series of power supplies are a completely different design and share hardly any of the same components.

Let's get started on checking out what the new HALE82 N 650W power supply is all about.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

NZXT delivers the majority of the power through the single 50A 12V rail capable of up to 600W of power. The minor rails are both capable of 28A each and share a combined total output of 150W. This is rather beefy for a 650W power supply and is nice to see. Power for the 5VSB rail is available up to 3.5A for a total of 17.5W. Maximum combined output of the unit is 650W.

For an entry level power supply, the NZXT HALE82 N really delivers where it matters. It may not be rated for 100% continuous output at 50C or have modular cabling, but the power supply isn't meant for users interested in such features. It has all of your voltage, current, power and temperature protections and that is what matters. The HALE82 N is also rated for 80Plus Bronze efficiency with fully sleeved native cables.

Pricing information for the unit isn't available at this time, but we would expect this to be priced just a tad below the HALE82 series units. This should put the unit somewhere close to the $59-$79 price range. NZXT backs the unit with a five year warranty.

Packaging

NZXT keeps their same packaging theme with the HALE82 N series and gives you a tiny glimpse at the unit through the window in the box.

The back gives us some details on the unit including a decent connector availability chart without cable numbers or length.

One side gives details on noise and efficiency of the unit.

Over on the other side, we find barcode and serial number information for the unit.

Moving to the top of the box, we just find NZXT's logo.

The bottom has a list of features in multiple languages.

Inside the Box

Inside the box, we find the power supply protected by some of the thickest foam we've seen on three sides. The other sides are protected by thinner foam, the cables and the box.

The top of the unit gives us a great shot at the semi-gloss black finish used on the power supply. The I/O specifications and serial number can be found here.

One side simply has the NZXT logo stamped into the case.

The other side is the same, just inverted so that the unit can be installed in either the top or the bottom of the case.

Turning the unit a bit more, we find the standard honeycomb mesh grill with AC input and on/off rocker switch present.

Taking a look at the front, we find the native cables as well as a few additional vents for airflow.

Once we get t the bottom, we find the high-contrast white 120mm fan that provides the active cooling for the NZXT HALE82 N 650W power supply.

Also included but not pictured are the AC power cable, user manual, zip ties, and mounting screws.

Cabling Arrangement and A Look Inside

[Heading]Cabling Arrangement

The cable summary is a bit short since we are dealing with a lower wattage, natively wired power supply, but should be more than sufficient nonetheless.

There are a pair of PCI-E cables that will allow you to power a few GPU's should you desire. Peripheral connections are proved by eight SATA, five Molex and one FDD connectors over four cables. It would be hard to need more connectors than that without first maxing out the power supply.

Rail distribution is as simple as it gets with a single 12V rail.

A Look Inside

Opening things up, we find the rather short and very open PCB. The power supply is so short that they couldn't fit a 140mm fan inside for cooling and had to use a 120mm fan instead.

A single Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor sits on the primary side of the power supply.

Chinese made CapXon capacitors can be found on the secondary side of the PSU.

NZXT chose the Tate Loon D12BH-12 120mm fan to provide the cooling for NZXT HALE82 N 650W power supply.

Test Results and Final Thoughts

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 higher than that of the NZXT HALE82 N 650W PSU, we can test it to the maximum.

The above tests represent typical loads that we have measured from various systems and are meant to give a rough idea of where your computer might fall in line with our tests. Please keep in mind that each system is different and actual loads can vary greatly even with similar hardware.

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 2% regulation from with a total drop of .19V from start to finish. The 5V rail also stayed within 2% voltage regulation and displayed a total drop of .11V. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was again within 2% with a total voltage drop of .09V.

DC output quality was good from start to finish. Starting out, we were able to see a ripple on the scope during Test 1 where we measured noise at a low 21mV 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 28mV. Under Test 4, we saw that the noise on the 12V rail had crept up to 46mV at full load.

The NZXT HALE82 N 650W PSU 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 N 650W power supply had no trouble achieving this while on our test bench.

Final Thoughts

NZXT is doing a great job capturing their share of the power supply market. Their entrance was marked by the HALE90 series and it made a very strong impression on the enthusiast community. Now that NZXT has a solid reputation for their power supplies, they are making a push to grab even more of the market. The HALE82 N is a perfect unit for capturing the low end and entry level computing market. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it solid performance and that is what matters most.

The HALE82 N surprised us for an entry level power supply with its excellent voltage regulation. Years ago this level of performance was only seen in high-end enthusiast grade power supplies, but now we are seeing it in the lower end power supplies. DC output quality was rather good, especially considering the CapXon capacitors on the secondary side. Most units that we have seen with these capacitors tend to have sub-optimal DC output quality, but NZXT has managed to pull it off. The HALE82 N is 80Plus Bronze rated for efficiency and it doesn't disappoint on this front either.

As more and more of these lower end power supplies enter the market, it becomes much harder to justify spending your money on a higher end power supply. The differences are becoming negligible to the point where the only significant differences you find are in efficiency, modular connectivity, silence, etc. This is great for those looking for an entry level power supply and why we think that the NZXT HALE82 N 650W is such a great power supply. You simply can't beat the performance when you're on a tight budget.