The latest Top Dawg Challenge sponsored by Western Digital is history; the results are in and the prizes have either been received or are on their way to the winners. There were two categories in this contest: Overclocked AMD and Overclocked Intel with prizes awarded to the top three contestants in each category. The first place prize in each category was a 74GB WD Raptor, second place in each category won a 36GB WD Raptor, and third place in each won a WD Raptor Shirt and Cap. There were also four random drawings giving away two 36GB WD Raptor hard drives and two WD T-shirt and cap combos.

It crashes our computers. It corrupts our data. It even destroys our components. In the world of PCs, heat is the enemy. It can cause our computers to lock up or crash, create errors in our work, shorten the life of components, and in extreme cases heat can instantly destroy parts.

Welcome to MaxPC! In this section we'll look at the important subsystems in your PC, and show how to eke out that extra bit of performance. If you are like many of us, it just might become an obsession as well as a full time hobby. Our first installment focuses on hard drives.

The recent Top Dawg Challenge has been over for a while; all the prizes donated by BFG have been delivered, and preparations for the next Challenge are already underway. So what did it take to come out on top? Let's take a look inside the machines that won each of the three prize categories: Stock, Overclocked Intel, and Overclocked AMD. We'll get a glimpse of the builders, as well, and see if they can give us some inside tips on how to build a Top Dawg. You can see a summary table of the winning entries below.