NZXT made another attempt at a PSU of the middle category, and I can't say that the final result met my expectations. Although the PSU features an appealing external design and the fully modular design adds many points to its usability score, the platform used isn't up to the task. It feels as though NZXT offered up a nice looking race car with a low BHP engine that then even allows family cars to pass it by on the track. The first time I saw this unit in photos floating around the net, I liked its looks and was then expecting high quality components and a contemporary internal design to be used, but NZXT/Sirtec unfortunately didn't do me the favor. On the contrary, Sirtec dug out an old platform and plastered it with passive and energy hungry components, and a group regulated scheme in the secondary side which actually generates all the rails of the PSU. The results were bad for the crossload tests I conducted and efficiency also took a big hit, especially at higher loads were lots of energy is lost on the diodes. If they asked me, I would tell them to leave out the fully modular design and its flat/stealth modular cables for an upgrade to a better platform with more quality caps. But NZXT didn't stop there: Installing a really noisy fan with a rather aggressive fan profile and only utilizing caps by Suscon in the secondary side, NZXT procured caps that are definitely not among my favorites when it comes to a reliable operation. Even the bulk cap suffers from production cost reduction since it is a Teapo one rated at only up to 85°C instead of the 105°C Japanese caps sport, and most branded PSUs use.

This PSU's good looks and fully modular design unfortunately don't go well with its performance, and I think that its 700 W capacity is also on the verge of what is possible for this platform. Lowering the capacity to 600 W would have definitely helped it achieve much better performance that could potentially even stand up to the competition, but as it is now, its performance score is quite low.

To sum up, I expected much from NZXT since they managed to impress me with the NZXT HALE90 V2 1000 W I reviewed some months ago, but the HALE82 V2 didn't live up to those expectations. On the contrary, this Sirtec platform is very mediocre, to say the least. Trying to achieve a good market price along with interesting features is difficult, there is no arguing that, but PSU manufacturers should above all prioritize performance before everything else.