HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop
"The HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop is the most beautiful gaming desktop you can buy."
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Smooth 4K gaming
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Beautiful design
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Accessible internals
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Ready to upgrade
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Good value
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Can get very loud and hot
Everyone wants to build their own PC these days. The problem? It is next to impossible to find affordable components these days. If it's your first rodeo, putting one together from scratch can be daunting.
HP has developed its new Omen 30L Gaming Desktop precisely for this target group. With all of the industry-standard upgrades and a DIY-friendly setup, it's unlike anything you'd find on an Alienware or ROG desktop.
Did I mention this thing is absolutely awesome? It is. With a starting price of $ 1,100, it's pretty affordable too. Obviously, this is not the configuration anyone should buy. You pay over $ 2,000 to get a model with the new RTX-30 series graphics.
If you can grab one, you're going to be pampered.
design
The aesthetics of the HP Omen 30L fit my tastes perfectly. The case is simple and nifty, similar to NZXT or Lian-Li. The edges are straight, the vents are small and even the lighting is tasteful. Don't even compare this to a desktop from ROG or Predator.
The branding is also minimalist. A simple diamond shape adorns the front and glows in bright white like a kind of alien obelisk. Let's call it mid-century modern gaming desktop design.
Let's call it mid-century modern gaming desktop design.
Still, HP added a few details that set this device apart from the standard PC case that you can buy off the shelf. The front is made of tempered glass and offers a glimpse of the RGB-lit fan inside, interrupted by the pattern of triangular vents on the side. It feels like you're in a museum looking at an ancient relic. HP charges extra for this, but I love the ultra-reflective look.
The vent design is also along the top plate, which is made entirely of machined aluminum. Like any other surface on the tower, it feels extremely stiff. At the top you'll also find a number of ports including a headphone / microphone combo jack and two SuperSpeed USB-A ports. I'd love to see a USB-C port offered here, which includes options like the Asus ROG Strix GT35 and Falcon NW Talon.
For all the metal and glass, HP managed to keep the system pretty light. It weighs 28 pounds, making it lighter than the 30 pound Lenovo Legion Tower 5i and the 35 pound Falcon NW Talon. However, the Omen 30L is slightly larger thanks to the large rubber feet underneath. According to HP, that empty space significantly increased airflow from below.
The tempered glass is also used for the side panel, which gives you a clear view of your hardware. At the top there is a row of RGB lights that pour the fixtures into a beautiful bath of color. Again, it's a touch that is similar to what many custom PC makers go for.
Internals
The Omen 30L Gaming Desktop uses a custom micro-ATX motherboard that is typical for this tower size. The board is even matte black, which is a nice touch. The Falcon NW Talon uses a full-size ATX board, which offers a few additional features but makes the internal layout feel a bit cramped. The Omen 30L is beautiful and spacious.
The card enables an additional M.2 SSD and two SATA drives in the available storage bays.
Cable management is a bit sloppy.
I wouldn't call it clean, however. Cable management is a bit sloppy, especially if you're from a boutique PC maker like Origin or Falcon NW. They are crossing each other in all directions and it would be quite a mess to untangle and redirect them. This is part of the DIY aesthetic that is better avoided in a pre-built system.
Fortunately, the internals are completely tool-free. The textured button on the back opens in the side area. It's an extremely simple and easy-to-use design. I even prefer the door hinges that open like the Falcon NW Talon, which can be inconvenient if you leave your tower on your desk.
The other side wall can be removed with just one screw. This also applies to the graphics card, which is held in place by a plastic brace to prevent sagging and ensure safe delivery. The Omen 30L has plenty of room for cards, even if it's as big as the massive Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090.
My test unit was a water-cooled system, although the base model uses a standard air cooler. In both cases, HP has partnered with Cooler Master for all of the thermal, including the front intake and rear exhaust fans. There's not much room for additional fans, though HP mentioned that there may be room on top to install a larger cooler. The 750 watt power supply is also provided by Cooler Master. Unfortunately there is no manual off switch included.
After all, the RGB memory sticks in my test unit came from HyperX, a company that HP now fully owns. My system was 32GB of Fury DDR4, which is the maximum amount you can get.
Game performance
With options from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia, the performance you get will vary. As it turns out, your choice of these processors and GPUs is a crapshoot too. Third-party manufacturers also have inventory issues. HP says an RTX 3060 configuration will also be available at some point.
However, if you get a configuration similar to mine, you won't be disappointed with the performance. It came with an Intel Core i9-10900K, an Nvidia RTX 3080, and a 1 TB M.2 SSD.
In 3DMark Time Spy, the Omen 30L fell right between some of its closest competitors. With a score of 16,108, it lands 11% in front of the Lenovo Legion Tower 5i and 5% behind the Falcon NW Talon. Both systems were also equipped with the RTX 3080. The lead over the Legion Tower 5i was reduced to only 3% in the older DirectX 11 benchmark Fire Strike.
The RTX 3080 is meant to be a 4K capable card, so I plug it into my 4K 144Hz monitor to see what it can do. It could play any game I tested in 4K at well over 60 fps (frames per second) on maximum settings, with the exception of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The in-game benchmark of this title spit out an average of 52 fps.
It's the only game I've preferred the 1440p experience where it was 70 fps faster on average. It was between 5% (1080p, High) and 15% (4K, Ultra High) behind the Falcon NW Talon in various graphics settings and resolutions, which was a performance difference from the other games I also tested.
With the highest fidelity, the Omen 30L often exchanged beats with the talon. But in 1080p it fell behind the talon. The clearest example was Civilization VI, which is already more CPU-dependent than the others. The Omen 30L averaged 158 fps in 4K on Ultra, but that's 11% behind the Falcon NW Talon. This lead was increased to 22% with 1080p Medium, which shows how much the CPU has bottlenecks compared to the Omen.
There have been cases when the fan noise was very loud. How scary loud.
This was also true for Fortnite, where the Omen was faster than the Talon and Legion in 4K (95 fps) but was 10% behind the Talon in 1080p. I suspect most gamers won't be too offended by the inequality, but it's worth a mention if you're trying to get the absolute fastest frame rates out of your system.
It's hard to blame the Omen 30L too much, especially since there have been games like Battlefield V where there was a much more even battle between the three systems, with no deviations of more than 5 fps. Regardless, playing in 4K at 100 fps feels awesome and shows just how groundbreaking the RTX 3080 really is.
The more serious problem with the Omen 30L was fan noise. It wasn't bad during most of the games – but there were times when it was very noisy. How scary loud. During my 3DMark Time Spy, I also saw occasional spikes in CPU temperatures as high as 97 degrees Celsius, which you don't want to see. The system has leveled itself to about 73 degrees for most of the load, but the thermals should have tinkered a little more between the temperature peaks and the fan noise.
Creative achievement
Gaming is a priority for the HP Omen 30L, but there's no reason you can't try it in creative applications like Adobe Premiere or Blender. CPU performance is good, although you obviously get more multi-core juice if you go for AMD's Ryzen platform.
The Ryzen 5950X, which I tested in the Falcon NW Talon, for example, drew circles around the Core i7-10900K in both the PugetBench Premiere Pro and the Blender benchmarks. PugetBench tests critical tasks like 4K playback and video encoding. That's why the multi-core capabilities of the Talon with Ryzen drive exceeded the omen by 18%.
That said, the HP Omen 30L is a capable creative workstation, especially if you can use that monster GPU.
Our opinion
The HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop is the most beautiful gaming desktop you can buy – hands down. Boutique options like the Falcon NW offer slightly better performance and far more neat cable management. But for the price, the HP Omen 30L is my preferred pre-built gaming desktop in its category.
Are there alternatives?
The two obvious options are the Lenovo Legion Tower 5i and the Alienware Aurora R11. The Legion Tower 5i is a good option, although you can't currently configure it with RTX 30 series cards. So forget about him.
Both the Alienware Aurora R11 and the Asus ROG Strix GT35 are larger and more powerful than the Omen 30L, but also more expensive. And nowhere near as good-looking.
Finally, both the Falcon NW Talon and Origin Neuron are good choices, but they are far more expensive.
How long it will take?
The HP Omen 30L will last as long as you have it. That's the beauty of desktops that are easy to update. Everything can be exchanged even if you run into technical problems.
However, HP's protection plan isn't very good. There is only a one-year standard warranty.
Should you buy it?
Yes. If you can find one of the high-end configurations, you won't find a better pre-made gaming desktop.
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