We Look at Thermaltake's Dr. Power II ATX PSU Tester - Value and Conclusion

DrPower01There are some gadgets that you do not realize you want or need until you stumble on them. These are the things that you have “made do” without using all kinds of methods. We had one of these moments the other day when an unexpected package was delivered. Upon opening it we found a new product from Thermaltake. It was simple labeled Dr. Power II. My first thought upon seeing it was that it was like the Kill-A-Watt power testers we use to determine power draw from the wall. We could not have been more wrong. The Dr. Power II is a Power Supply tester. With it you can test the nominal voltages from each rail and the PSU as a whole.  With a retail cost of only $39.99 it can be a very valuable tool in any DYIer’s home. Let’s take a look and see if it is worth the $40 you will spend on it.

 

Value -
Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item. As we have told you (more than once) the Dr. Power II will set you back $40.00. This is pretty good when you consider that a good digital multi-meter is going to run you about $80 and then you have to identify all of the voltage read points all on your own (unless you have an overclocking board). When you consider this and the ease of use you get then $40 is not bad at all.

Conclusion -
One thing that is a pain is trying to figure out if your power supply is putting out the voltage that it is supposed to. Thermaltake’s Dr. Power II gives you a quick and simple way to make sure that you are getting the voltage you are supposed to from each of the individual rails (or rail) in your power supply. We do wish there was more controls to see aggregate power and amperage, but we know to get those we would have to spend considerably more. In the end we found that Dr. Power II very easy to use and a cool device to have on hand and really with a $40 price tag it is something that is well within most peoples’ budgets.

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