What is the model number of your "overkill" PSU? Not all 550w PSUs are created equally, in fact, many of them barely make the minimum specs or even come close to putting out their rated capacity.
And I guarantee if you run Heaven or Furmark, your GPU won't be running at anything near 22°C if you set it on anything over low settings. Medium or high settings will change those temps quick. I realize you likely won't be running with those settings during gaming, but you need to push the card a bit to establish thermal limits. Something that stresses the GPU to 100% like Furmark is a good way to check actual temps during a demanding load.