NZXT Hale 82 Power Supply Review (Hardware)

Over the years I have built a lot of computers.  I don’t own a business or work for a company that has me doing this, but rather my friends know that they can count on me to get them the most for their money.  If there is one thing that I have realized through the 12 PCs that I built in 2011, it is that the power supply is the most under thought component in a built.

Most people get so excited about CPUs, graphics cards, and a sweet case that by the time they get to a power supply it becomes an afterthought and people just pick up anything.  As long as you have enough juice to power everything on, that’s enough, right?  But a power supply is so much more than just electricity.  Modular, watts, rails, and more; with so many options it is easy for someone to get lost in the mix, but if you are looking for a solid PSU that will meet all your needs, then Gamers Daily News recommends giving NZXT’s Hale82 a look. 

Design

Unboxing the Hale82, you will find your power supply nestled safely between the packing foam and a bag full of your modular cables.  The first thing that you need to take notice of is that the power supply is sleek in its design.  By this I mean that NZXT chose to go with the “less is more” build style.  In a PSU world full of lights, colors, and shiny metal, the Hale82 takes a stylish minimalistic approach.  The entire shell of the unit is a deep black and textured to diffuse light rather than reflect it.  On the intake side, you will find a 120mm fan with the white blades for which NZXT has become known giving the unit a bold monochromatic look.  Flipping the power supply over, you can find a full list of power specifications, but we’ll look at the technical details later on in the review.  The back of the unit is fully mesh, allowing you a glimpse at the Japanese capacitors inside.  You will also find NZXTs logo beneath the power switch and cable connector.  Due to this design, the logo will only be readable if the unit is installed in a case that requires a bottom mounted PSU.

Now the Hale82 is not fully modular.  Permanently hardwired into the Hale82 are the 20+4 pin motherboard, 8 pin (4+4) EPS, and two 8 pin (6+2) SLI cables.  Beside this you will see the generic 6 and 8 pin connectors that go to the modular cables.  It is note worthy to mention that the generic connectors are directly soldered to separate circuit board.  This may not sound that special to the amateur builder, but going with this design almost guarantees that your connectors will never bend, become loose, or break as you add and remove cables.

Inside the bag of cables, you will find everything you need to power your computer and this is where it really gets interesting.  Included are cables with two 6 pin PCI Express, 6 molex, and 8 SATA connectors.  For once it is nice to get enough SATA connectors and not too many molex.  The best thing about these cables is that they are flat.  The ribbons style cables make your job much easier to do a decent job of cable management in even the smallest of spaces.