Test Loads for Power Supplies

I have some machines which I have had a while and which I have yet to power on. I am a little wary of just switching them on and hoping they will work, being concerned that if they are not right they may damage something in the machine. Since a switched mode PSU needs a load to work properly, what do people use as a dummy test load for power supplies? I was thinking of building a small board with a bunch of resistors on it and suitable connectors (particularly the molex one common in most PCs). Maybe switchable in some way to vary the amount of power consumed. Good idea? Would it make sense to test the outputs of the PSU (for voltage and ripple) just at the minimum power, or would it make sense to test the maximum rated power consumption, or perhaps both? I believe there are test instruments for this kind of thing, but that they are very, very expensive. Regards Rob