DriverHeaven.net: Casebuy EZ Power Supply Tester 2

We recently had the opportunity to have a look at CaseBuys EZ Power Supply Tester 2, it’s a device used to check the rails of your Power Supply Unit. Here’s a snippet from CaseBuys webpage:

“With the power supply being one of the most important parts of a computer, you cannot afford to install a damaged or defective unit. Corrupted data, blue screens of death, and even severe system damage can result from incorrect power being supplied to your computer.

Encased in sturdy aluminium, the EZ Power Supply Tester allows you to check the power from your 20pin or 24pin motherboard, 8pin, 6pin, 4pin and SATA connections. LED indicators let you know if power is being supplied on each voltage rail and a master PG LED informs you of the overall result.”

Features:

• Case Material: Aluminum
• Dimensions: 89 x 63.7 x 17.5 mm
• Characteristic: Light weight and pocket size
• Thickness: 1.0 mm
• Features: PG auto warning LEDs show each output voltage
• For use in standard ATX power supply

The EZ Power Supply Tester comes in a blue cardboard box with some simple instructions on the back. It came in a very good condition seeing that it has shipped all the way from Taiwan to Driverheaven in only a brown, padded envelope.

The PSU tester has a blue aluminium casing as you can see in this picture; it has a brief set of instructions. You can also see the diodes indicating the rails on the casing.

Here you see where you attach the 20/24 pin ATX connector. This is the main difference from the first version of the PSU tester; the possibility to test 24 pin ATX connectors.

Here are the connections used to test the “P4” connector, PCIe and floppy connections.

Here you can test the rail for the SATA conections.

And the connector to test the four pin Molex.

Testing:

In the testing I used an Antec Neopower 480W Power Supply Unit, which I know is in working order. I would have liked to test this with a known faulty PSU also, but unfortunately I don’t have one to test with and I don’t feel like breaking one in testing purpose either. So the Neopower will have to do.

Here you see that all the lights (that should light up) did so when the 24pin ATX connector was plugged in. There was also a buzzer indicating that everything is ok.

In the pictures (below) you can see that all the appropriate led lights did light up, indicating that the Antec Neo Power is supplying the right voltage to all the connectors tested.

SATA	PCIe Connector

4 Pin Molex, both 5v and 12v...

When I was about to test the “floppy” power cable I discovered that there was a compatiblilty problem with the test connector on the PSU tester and the Antec PSU. The connector on the Antec Neo Power was too wide to fit on the corresponding connector on the PSU tester.
It simply wasn’t possible to get it on without risking breaking it. Hopefully this is something CaseBuy will take into consideration if they ever are releasing a version 3 of the PSU tester.

Conclusion:

It surely can come in handy if you are in doubts that your Power Supply Unit isn’t providing adequate voltage on specific rails. But it does not tell you how far off your rails might be, for that you will have to use a multimeter. The PSU tester is simply testing that there is voltage on the tested rails.

With that said, is this tester something that everybody would need in their "computer gadget drawer"? Probably not, but it is still a pretty cool thing to have and inexpensive. It can be found for as little as ~$15US. it would also be a good insurance to use this tester before assembling a brand new system, especially if you have bought a cheap "no name" brand Power Supply Unit.

The EZ Power Supply Tester 2 can currently be found for a mere $14.99 at Frozen CPU

Contacts: Reviewer: Mike "Asmoday" Pettersen