If it makes you feel any better, I test every stick on a USB port (via an unpowered hub and a six-foot USB extension cable that loses about 1V per 1A draw) straight off a crappy old laptop I got for $10. It's running Windows XP 32-bit, generic XP32 Zadig installer and a stock Win32 build of cgminer 4.9.2. I don't use a config file. I only use a batch file so I don't have to type in the payout address every time, but for a while I didn't even have that set up. Neither should be required, they're just a convenience.
I haven't tested Novak's cgminer win32 because I don't test flashed sticks, I get 'em before that part. But I have seen his Linux cg-gekko run eight sticks flawlessly at 200MHz off
one of these world's cheapest 10-port USB hubs I wired to a Molex connector about two years ago. At the time of this posting it's running 5 sticks at 350MHz.
You shouldn't need a high-dollar powered hub for these guys unless you're running a bunch of them or running them hard. When they light up on my testbench they're drawing 620mA and 4.3V (note that's 2.67W, or about 7% higher than a minimum baseline standard USB port should be guaranteed to provide) at the socket and work just fine. If your hub or port or whatever can't do about that much, hit it with a bat and start over because it prolly ain't worth keeping around.
The sticks are about 12mm thick, maybe 14 with the screw heads since they came out a bit taller than I'd like. Most ports have at least 15mm spacing between jacks. My test hub has 16mm spacing and these things fit in with plenty of room for airflow from the crappy fan.
If you got a multimeter, measure between the GND and VCORE test pads on the backside will tell you what power you're running. Compare that to
the handy V/GH chart in this here Bitmain post, except multiply the hashrate by 18.2 to get the frequency you'd need to get that speed out of it at the voltage indicated.
Each stick I set to a Vcore of 610mV and test for functionality at 150MHz (8.25GH). I'm not sure if Novak resets them higher when he burns 'em in. It should be impossible to fry the sticks by overvolting unless something else is broken first. The pot spins from 0.55V up to 0.80V and then kicks back over to 0.55V when you turn it too far.
I grew up six miles from Shelbyville. Trust me, there ain't nothing to see but the county courthouse and a gas station what also makes pizza.
Just throwing that out there.