Hey all,

Still working on building the perfect box here. I recently took my computer through a major overhaul that has me a little worried, though. I've always been of the opinion that a high quality 350W PSU is good enough for almost any "average person's" system, but now I'm not so sure.

Hopefully not forgetting anything, here's what I currently have in my box that's going to be a power draw:

Athlon XP 2400+
ECS K7S5A Pro
1024MB RAM
120GB Seagate Barracuda ATA-V
Radeon 9000 Pro
SB Audigy
3Com 10/100 NIC (disabled, currently using onboard NIC)
ATI TV-Wonder (full version)
Vantec Nexus Fan Speed Controller
Vantec Nexus CPU Fan Speed Controller / Transfer Panel
TDK VeloCD 40/10/24 CDRW
1.44" Floppy
USB hub (not using self-powered capability)
Microsoft Intellimouse 3.0
Five case and CPU fans, all undervolted: four Panaflo, one Zalman

My PSU is an Enermax Whisper, 350W.

Most of these parts were grandfathered from my last system build, except for a few differences: It was PIII 1200MHz (Tualatin)-based, had no case fans, and had two WD 7200RPM hard drives instead of the one Seagate.

Now, here's the thing that concerns me: It used to be that when I glanced at my temps in Sandra, the PSU probe would be darn near room temperature. Now, I'm getting around 47 C. That seems awfully hot. I can feel the top of my case and confirm this - it's warm. Also, the air expelled by the PSU's exhaust fan is pretty warm. (Yes, I do have the PSU's fan connector hooked up.) On the other hand, the two case exhaust fans are putting out cool air. I'm not sure where it's located, but the motherboard's thermal probe is reading 19 C.

Best I can figure, either the two case exhaust fans (which are almost directly below the PSU - I think that's standard for ATX) are creating turbulence and keeping the PSU fans from doing their job, or I'm overloading my PSU - but my system seems so ordinary, that surprises me.

Here's my voltage readings in Sandra:
+3.3V: 3.34
+5V: 4.97
+12V: 11.79
-12V: 0.56
-5V: 2.84
(Yes, I know this can be less than accurate.)

Those negative readings look a little strange, but I'm no electrician. I can barely work a voltmeter, and unfortunately I don't own one.

So what are your opinions, everyone? I do plan to upgrade my PSU, but that could be a few months down the road. Plus, I was also planning to get a new video card (Probably 9700 Pro or something similar) and a second hard drive (another of what I've got), and I was only planning to get a 400W power supply since that's pretty much what "silent" offerings like the SilenX or Nexus units max out at.

Any help would be appreciated.