CaseBuy EZ Power Supply Tester 2

Written by Michael Larabel in Peripherals on 21 August 2005 at 01:00 PM EDT. Page 3 of 3. Add A Comment.

Performance:

Like our testing of the original CaseBuy EZ Power Supply Tester, we first used a power supply that we knew for a fact was in working order, which happened to be the Thermaltake PurePower 460W ATX 12V 2.0. We connected the 24-pin motherboard connector, and presto, all of the appropriate LEDs immediately turned on. We proceeded to check the molex connector with its 5V and 12V lines, as well as the 8-pin connector with its 12V rail, followed by the floppy, hard drive, and SATA power connectors.


Next, we plugged in a SilverStone 400W unit we believed was faulty. As we had expected, only the +5VSB LED had lit up for the 24-pin connector while nothing had lit up for the additional connectors.

As with the original model, the EZ Power Supply Tester continues to get quite warm after its been in use for sometime so watch out for that as well as possibly causing damage to the power supply itself. When we had the CaseBuy USB Vacuum Cleaner earlier in the year, we destructed the entire unit in the article to get a better understanding for its suffice performance and we ended up finding some fairly poor solder joints, masking tape construction, and a 220 µF capacitor to provide the power boost. As with the USB Vacuum Cleaner, once testing had wrapped up, we disassembled the EZ Power Supply Tester 2. Similar to the warranty technique used on power supplies, covering the single screw hole for the unit is the part/serial number sticker. Once we removed that we were into disassembling the entire unit by breaking off the covers on both ends. Below is what we found inside.


Unlike the construction of the USB Vacuum Cleaner, the construction of the CaseBuy EZ Power Supply Tester 2 wasn't as questionable. However, examining the tester's PCB revealed that its real model number is YE-PST-II. With the YE-PST-II model printed on the circuit board, along with "Young Year" and its respective logo, the actual OEM of the unit is indeed Young Year Electronics. Nevertheless, the PCB was well laid out and for reference its revision B1. Another item we're able to see is the 3.3V buzzer, which "chirps" once a power supply is connected to the unit.

Conclusion:

As we had stated in the original CaseBuy EZ Power Supply Tester review "time spent with the CaseBuy EZ Power Supply Tester was well spent" the same holds true for the EZ Power Supply Tester 2. These simple additions of a 24-pin motherboard, SATA power, as well as a 8-pin P4 and 6-pin power connectors make it a worthy product for testing any recent power supply unit. Although the device doesn't indicate in anyway how far off the rails are from their theoretical voltages, which still can be costly when it comes to the stability of the system, it at least specifies the rail is indeed active rather than giving a single LED for the status of an entire connector. Another one of the nice additions to the EZ Power Supply Tester 2 was the blue anodized metal rather than simply the plain brushed metal appearance of the original unit. Overall, the EZ Power Supply Tester 2 is another handy pocket-sided unit from CaseBuy to quickly and easily test the status of a PC power supply.

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Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.