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HEDT is an acronym for High-End DeskTop. And like the definition of a sportscar versus a supercar, it’s a bit nebulous. What hardware does a computer need to be an HEDT? Is the HEDT market dead, and will it come back? Ponder such questions along with Gordon Mah Ung, and our special guest Wendell Wilson from Level1Techs, in the latest PCWorld YouTube video.
Gordon and Wendell get into the weeds of hardware capacity and design intent in their conversation. Previously the definition of a high-end desktop relied on such concrete concepts as processor cores and PCIe lanes…but now you can get an 8-core CPU in a desktop that costs just a few hundred bucks.
A new definition might better be based around capability…but capability for what? Someone who needs raw rendering speed for an 8K video needs a different high-end computer from someone running half a dozen virtual machines at once. Can you find, or even build, that kind of machine on a high enthusiast budget anymore?
Check out the full video for this breakdown between two experts. For more nerdy explanations and speculations, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld’s YouTube channel, and be sure to subscribe to Level1Techs while you’re at it.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who’s been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.