Does An Intermediary Radiator Make Sense?

[Dash Lambda]

So I'm planning out the custom loop I'm going to do in the future (after a few major component upgrades), and I'm curious about something.

I have a HAF XB Evo, and I want to use both the 280 mount in front and 120 in back. What I'm thinking about doing is using the 120 rad between the CPU and GPU stages.

Now, I'm not one of those nuts who thinks that running water directly from the CPU to the GPU somehow heats up the GPU, this placement of the rad is just what seems to make sense in terms of physically running the loop through my case. What I'm not sure of, however, is whether it actually does make sense. Would it improve the GPU's thermals to any meaningful degree? Or perhaps would it be better to just put it in series with the 280 in front?

 

On a different note, I'm also not really sure what res to use and where to put it.

It seems like the 5.25 inch bays are too low for a res, but it's not like there's a lot of free room. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to mount it to the ventilation on the side panel externally, since it does have grommets for tubing... But I'd like to keep all the mounting limited to the main structure of the case, so I don't have to deal with the loop every time I take a certain side panel off.

 

Any input is appreciated, especially from people who've actually done a loop in this case.

 

EDIT: I just realized that I could do a res/pump combo mounted to the back of the case, above the expansion slots. Derp.

[Enderman]

it makes no difference where you put the rads

the common rule is to go with the shortest possible tubing routes and have no tubing cross over

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, Dash Lambda said:

-SNIP-

Well more rad space and help especially if your overclocking, in general though it's best to have longer rads than a bunch of shorter ones since it tends to cool a little more effectively. 

For a res if your space limited you can get a short res and bottom mount it into the floor of the case if there isn't much room or to the front rad with an adapter. 

[Dash Lambda]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

Well more rad space and help especially if your overclocking, in general though it's best to have longer rads than a bunch of shorter ones since it tends to cool a little more effectively. 

For a res if your space limited you can get a short res and bottom mount it into the floor of the case if there isn't much room or to the front rad with an adapter. 

But shouldn't the res be above the pump?

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, Dash Lambda said:

But shouldn't the res be above the pump?

Yes, you could have the res feed into the pump beside it or a pump/res combo if things are really tight on space.