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Smart Power Management And DPSApp
Smart Power Management (or SPM) is a cloud computing platform that tracks and analyzes the power consumption of PC's equipped with compatible Thermaltake PSUs. The idea is to help you reduce CO2 emissions.
The graph above shows the SPM Service architecture. As you can see, information regarding fan failures and temperature/voltage alerts is uploaded in real time, while all other data is uploaded to the cloud every six hours.
You can access SPM from your PC or through a smart device (phone or tablet), since both Android and iOS environments are supported. SPM provides access to PSU, graphics card and CPU data, and it works across multiple machines if you have them. Aside from simply reading back uploaded data, you're also able to perform some PSU management functions remotely.
The DPS G PC App 2.0 (or DPSApp, for short) is Thermaltake's client software that runs on the system with a compatible PSU inside. Through it, you can keep an eye on efficiency, wattage, voltage and temperature, along with certain CPU and GPU parameters.
DPSApp offers real-time alerts covering major problems that have to do with fan speed abnormalities, over-temperature conditions (over 60 degrees C) and voltage problems (over/under 5 percent of the nominal levels). The interface is simple, but it offers plenty of important information. The only measurement it's missing is input power, or the wattage drawn from the mains network. We don't understand how Thermaltake overlooked this, since it's already available, and indeed needed for the efficiency calculation.
You can set the fan profile to one of three available options (performance is the default). Unfortunately, you can't create your own profiles, which we know a lot of advanced users would appreciate. We'd also like to see DPSApp let users customize the interface a bit, at least allowing them to change the icon order around.
The logging function is automatically enabled once the PSU starts. You're given absolutely no control over where files are stored or how often samples are logged. Both settings are exposed through the Corsair Link app, which we consider to be the most sophisticated PSU control/monitoring program up so far. In order to lower the default interval of one minute to six seconds, we had to modify the "settings.ini" file located in the same folder as the DPSApp executable. We also think you should have the freedom to turn logging on or off.
The DPSApp's biggest problem is that once temperatures get too high or a rail falls out of spec, you're hammered by notification emails. In a matter of minutes, we received a huge number of messages, all for the same reason. Thermaltake should limit this to one per minute, or maybe per five minutes. Better yet, let the customer pick a preferred interval. To make matters worse, the application freezes when there's an alert since notifications keep popping up. We wouldn't object to Thermaltake completely redesigning the whole suite and using a proper platform this time, not Adobe Flash.
There is also a DPS G Mobile application through which you can monitor PSUs remotely. In the event you need to keep an eye on several power supplies, the software conveys their up-time, total cost and KWh. The mobile application also provides real-time warning alerts in case something goes wrong.
