Date: Monday, December 12, 2005
Author: Joe Di Figlia
Provided By: YavaCo PC Test Station
Page: 1 of 3

Since its inception, COD has had the wonderful opportunity to play with some great hardware and have web surfers read our opinions on them all. We have not always had the latest and greatest motherboard and video card reviews; we have not always had the cutting edge tech articles on theories about where the industry is going; we have, however, had the opportunity to keep it real. We have had the opportunity to review products that most of the general public is looking for more info on or to purchase. Sometimes, we get to review a product that was not meant for the general public; products geared toward technicians and instructors. This is what I have on the table for you today.

YavaCo is the company, and their Test Station is the product. This test station is a little different than one we have had the opportunity to review in the past, the HSPC Tech station This is different in that this is an all in one solution with so many tools included that this could actually be the only device you may need to repair / diagnose PC hardware problems outside of a screwdriver.

"The YavaCo PC Test Station was designed to significantly reduce the time it takes for a technician to troubleshoot/repair an IBM compatible Personal Computer and to provide an effective training aid for instructors engaged in teaching courses related to personal computers."

The YavaCo Test Station comes in 3 different flavors ranging from $1199.00 to $2599.00 and the middle road (Assembled Version) is what I have in the lab. This version, as stated on www.yavaco.com, is comprised of:

• Custom Aluminum Enclosure (case) Equipped with
  - 3.5 " (9)hard drive bay (removable)
  - 5.25" drive bays (2) (removable)
  - motherboard tray (removable)
  - 120 mm fans (5)
  - motherboard access door (removable)
  - insulated neoprene rubber top panel cover and support block (removable)
  - 460 watt Vantec ION2 power supply units (2) (not provided with the kit version)
  note: an optional 600 watt+ power supply is available to support the Intel dual/quad XEON and AMD dual Opteron and MP CPU server/ workstation motherboards
  - power / HDD LED's (2 sets)
  - on-off/reset switches (2 sets)
  - parts utility drawer
  
• Hard drive selector switch unit
  (equipped to switch 2 hard drives)
• Motherboard diagnostic test card
• Armor card
• Armor card CD
• ATX power extension cables (1 set)
• ATX to at power adaptor cable
• Custom IDE and floppy drive data cables (2 sets)
• Power extension and splitter cables(1 set)
• Pre-installed cable clamps
• Tie straps (1 set)
• Installation and test manual
• Operations manual
• MBTF post code manual
• Check-it® software diskette (2)
• Check-it® software manual (1)
• Loop back plugs (3)