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The early years
The story of HI-TECH begins in 1986. It is the heyday of the Commodore 64, the standard in the field of computer gaming. The first computer HI-TECH sold, unlike the market leader IBM, has two built-in floppy disk drives. Just as it is today, at that time the perfect price-performance ratio for the customer is of premiere importance. IBM, with its single floppy disk drive, had the high price of 75,000 Austrian Schillings (€4,941.75). The first HI-TECH computer is, with 7,000 Schillings (€508.71), less expensive even though it is technologically better equipped.
From business customers…
In the early years, HI-TECH mainly dealt with business customers such as universities and other companies, providing them with technical equipment. In those day, the PC was not really a “personal computer” and was not widely known. Very few families had one. However, with the emergence of the Internet, the PC grew more interesting for private customers. In 1995, Internet Explorer 1.0 first appeared on the market. In the same year, HI-TECH decided to deliver to end-customers due to increasing interest.
…to retail
It was the era of the HI-TECH classic brick-and-mortar retail shop. The web continued to become more relevant, but customers did not yet have much confidence in it. In 1999, HI-TECH established its first web shop. Still, it could not break the predominance of our retail commerce until 2005/2006.
Experts in video editing
During the period starting in 2000, a very important specialization emerged- video editing on PCs. For many videographers, HI-TECH became the first point of contact regarding video editing on a computer. Keep in mind that the Youtube era had not yet arrived. Youtube became another important factor starting from 2005 onwards.
Overclocking in gaming PCs
In addition to customers interested in video editing, another group showed increasing interest in HI-TECH PCs: gamers. Since there were already some younger members of the company actively involved in the gaming world, building PCs suited to this segment was a perfect match. By overclocking the processors HI-TECH was able to offer gamers an experience that could not be topped by any equipment from our competitors.
A Quarter-century of HI-TECH
In 2011 HI-TECH celebrated its 25th anniversary. Starting on 4.8.2011- the 25th anniversary of the opening of the business- we will celebrate with a gaming PC special edition "Twentyfive", a birthday calendar with 25 presents, and other offers. Starting in 2011, HI-TECH will also enter the eSports sector and team up with hopeful teams and clans. Of course, we also cooperate with successful Youtubers and Streamers such as MafuyuX / Heideltraut, Zombey, AviveHD, Tobinator, MontanaBlack, DannyBurnage, StandartSkill, Herr Currywurst, fraeuleinchaos, and ArazhulHD. Journalists are showing appreciation for the achievements of HI-TECH Gamer Hardware, calling us the "Antithesis to the iMac" (Peter Sempelmann, Profil, 2011).
HI-TECH launches a New Look
The company, which moved into a new headquarters in Traun near Linz in April 2013 and celebrated its successful 30th anniversary in 2016, has now developed a new logo in 2018. A new logo should never be designed for the sake of change. When developing the new HI-TECH logo, we wanted to pay respect to our rich heritage of high-quality, powerful, gaming PCs. We also conducted an internal review of our core values and looked to the future of HI-TECH.
HI-TECH's loyalty to those who are passionate about gaming is central to our values. We are committed to supporting gamers and all friends of gaming.
Our name is synonymous with quality, customized PCs, built by hand. We understand that a powerful, reliable PC is a gamer's most valuable piece of hardware.
In honor of our 32-year legacy, every letter of the HI-TECH name is included in the wolf´s head, which is also designed to resemble a battle helmet.
For all the hardware geeks, we've included an allusion to our history of overclocking. Can you find it?
The Next Milestone of Tradition: 40 Years
In 2026, we celebrate 40 years of passion for high-quality computers.
On this anniversary, we gladly ask ourselves what tradition truly means to us.
The Duden dictionary roughly defines tradition as the passing down of ideas and cultures across generations. This absolutely applies after 40 years, across different generations of computer users and gamers, as well as different generations of CPUs and GPUs. Throughout all this time, the idea of an exceptional price-performance ratio and a corporate culture of the highest technical standards has been lived.
ChatGPT 5.2 defines tradition as follows:
“Tradition is a pattern of actions, customs, rules, or meanings that has been passed down over a long period of time, which a group or organization consciously maintains because it creates identity and expresses ‘that’s how it should be’ or ‘that’s how we do things.’”
The popular large language model adds:
“Change: it rarely stays exactly the same, but often adapts over time.”
And this meaning resonates with us as well. For us, tradition also means looking back at all the change that our core beliefs and corporate culture have survived by being able to adapt these values to the change.
In the founding year of 1986, no one could have foreseen that after 40 years of existence we would be able to ask an LLM about the meaning of tradition. At that time, even the significance of Google was not yet foreseeable. The dominant relevance of gaming for the PC industry could perhaps already be guessed, but certainly not to the extent we experience today. Likewise, the influence of social media was not yet foreseeable – along with many other developments.
But we are proud that we have been able to preserve the founding ideas through all this change. This would of course never have been possible without the unique HI-TECH for Gamers community. That is exactly why, on our 40th birthday, we look forward with great anticipation to the upcoming developments in the computer industry and how our traditional values will fit into this future change.
Questions about 40 Years of HI-TECH for Gamers
Answer: Although the brands MEDION and Vobis look back on an even longer history, HI-TECH for Gamers is the oldest provider without major corporate involvement and with a clear focus on computers – today gaming PCs – in the German-speaking area.
Answer: Of course, the models have changed significantly over the years and also received new names. But in recent years, the EPIC – in its various versions – has fought its way to the highest popularity in the range.
Answer: HI-TECH for Gamers may call itself a traditional Austrian company, because manufacturing has taken place exclusively in Austria throughout its entire history – in Linz and today in Traun. This not only supports the local economy, but at the same time relies on high quality through well-trained professionals.