NZXT has a new entry in the power supply (PSU) market: the HALE90 850W. They have been producing stylish cases for several years, and this PSU follows in those footsteps.

The Packaging

I’ve always been a big fan of minimalist design. I absolutely love what NZXT has done with the box on this product: it’s visually appealing, it’s not in your face, and it’s very easy to grasp the key details. Right on the front, the key features are showcased so you can quickly see what sets this PSU apart from others.

80Plus Gold Certified

Modular cable design

100% Japanese capacitors

Single 12 V rail

140 mm fan

5 year warranty

850 W Peak Output

Moving on to the side of the box, you can see two graphs. One shows the efficiency with respect to load on the unit, and the other shows the noise level with respect to load. There is no explanation on how these figures were reached, so they could be made up for all we know. The back of the box does have more details, though. The first two lines seem to corroborate the two graphs by stating the data which matches the graphs, but still no real details on testing procedure. The most notable details for me are the claimed 70 A, 840 W on the single +12 V rail plus the shear number of included connectors.

2 x Extended 8pin PSU connectors (secondary motherboard power connectors)

9 x 4 pin MOLEX connectors

3 x 6+2 pin PCI-E connectors

3 x 6 pin PCI-E connectors

10 x SATA connectors

All of these connection options provide support for the latest Intel and AMD platforms as well as the newest DirectX 11 video cards and quad-GPU setups. So, by looking at these specifications alone, everything sounds pretty rosy with this PSU.

Out of the Box

Opening the package, I was pleased to see the quality white paint job on the PSU and the sheathed cables. I was also pleasantly surprised to see all of the extra component cables were neatly kept in a nylon case. It’s not necessarily the highest quality case, but has a Velcro closure and is much better than a simple plastic bag. There are some thumb screws included which are nice to have but not entirely necessary. From my own experiences, the PSU is the one component that does not get changed very often in my cases, so the convenience that thumb screws provide is sort of wasted in this area. However, you can always take these thumb screws and use them elsewhere in your case, so chalk them up as a nice freebie.

The included user manual isn’t anything special. The same information is located on the box, but it’s repeated in several different languages in this manual. Last but not least, a standard power cable is included – because you obviously need a way to get power from the wall socket.

The Guts

Now is the really fun part: let’s tear this thing open and see what’s on the inside! Aside from the Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors (caps) scattered around, we’re really looking to find out which OEM actually built this unit. Unfortunately in this case, there is no definitive sign of who the OEM is, so we’ll have to do some more investigative work on the internet.

The sticker on the outside of the case and the box don’t have a UL number, but they do have a BSMI number: R33529. A quick search on Google shows that Super Flower is the OEM and the most similar unit I could find on their website is the Golden Green SF-800P14XE, which leads me to believe the 850 W model is reserved for licensing customers, like NZXT. The 80Plus website has information on both the 800 W and 850 W units that are Gold Certified. Searching further for tests done on other 80Plus Gold Certified Super Flower power supplies leads to jonnyGURU’s review of the Kingwin Lazer Gold 1000w, which received an 8.5 out of 10. If you haven’t heard, jonnyGURU is a very reputable source for power supply reviews. Super Flower doesn’t have the best reputation for being a quality OEM, but going by jonnyGURU’s review of the Kingwin model, these units aren’t complete junk.

Final Thoughts

Without any proper testing of the loads and ripple, we can’t make any authoritative conclusions about how this PSU performs. We can, however, say that the NZXT Hale90 850 W does have all of the options a custom computer builder would be looking for. The white paint might not be for everyone, but it is very clean. The 140mm fan is very quiet and the ability to add or remove extra cables as you need them will help keep your case clear of clutter. Also, if the jonnyGURU review of the Kingwin Lazer 1000 W is any indication, then this power supply will be fairly decent. Finally, I’d like to say “thank you” to NZXT for providing us this product to explore.

– splat