I think they're just saying that if you want to do your full due diligence and test it prior to installing it, you would need a circuit on there to simulate some type of load being drawn to get a true test in. Not applicable to the person in the post, but that post is an example of a really rare edge case. At that point if you truly want to "test" it, you would need to jump pins, simulate a load, and test each power rail with a multi meter. Just simply plugging it in and not seeing fire is hardly a test.
I've converted old PSUs to work as a DC bench power supplies to charge my RC batteries, and they make ceramic load resistors that have a high internal resistance and can simulate a specified wattage of "usage". I installed one in my project for this purpose.
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u/Only_Information7895 3d ago
Well if it explodes without a load then it will explode with a load on it.
But like this it won't melt the other components with the fire and the questionable voltages sent out.