HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment

EDITOR’S NOTE: The HP Omen 30L gained a “extremely really useful” honor for greatest gaming desktop on the Tom’s Information Awards 2021 for gaming.

The HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop has one vital benefit over lots of its rivals: It is quiet. It activates with a mild whirr, and offers ambient white noise while you’re operating demanding video games. Evaluate and distinction to the jet engine sounds of different fashionable gaming rigs, and the Omen 30L has lots going for it, even simply as an on a regular basis productiveness machine.

And but, when you do load up your favourite video games, the Omen 30L renders them superbly, operating them in excessive resolutions, with fluid body charges. Armed with an Nvidia 3080 GPU, an Intel Core i9 processor and 32 GB RAM, this machine can deal with nearly every part, from word-processing and music, to graphic design and video playback, to completely immersing you in demanding single- and multiplayer video games.

Granted, you’ll be able to’t expertise the Omen 30L’s energy if you cannot discover a unit. Monitoring down one among these machines is not essentially simple, attributable to complicated availability and excessive costs. Moreover, you will should uninstall a complete lot of unnecessary bloatware, and exchange the included mouse and keyboard ASAP.

Nonetheless, the Omen 30L is arguably among the best gaming PCs, if you may get your palms on one. Learn our full HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment for the total story.

HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment: Value and availability

The HP Omen 30L — like loads of machines with Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs — is not simple to get ahold of proper now. And if you will discover one, it isn’t low cost.

The least costly Omen 30L mannequin on HP’s web site is the GT13-0295xt mannequin. This prices $2,000 and comes with an Intel Core i7-10700K CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous GPU, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD + 2 TB HDD storage, and an air cooling system. That is out of inventory on the time of writing.

Evaluate and distinction to the costliest mannequin: the Omen 30L GT13-0380t, which begins at $3,280. That may get you an Intel Core i7-10700K CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 GPU, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD + 2 TB HDD storage and a liquid cooling system. This mannequin is in-stock — presumably due to its excessive asking value.

Our assessment mannequin was the GT13-0093, which is someplace within the center. It isn’t presently accessible wherever at MSRP, though an Amazon itemizing pegs it at $3,699. This mannequin comes geared up with an Intel Core i9-10900K CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD + 2 TB HDD storage and a liquid cooling system. It is an extremely highly effective machine, and given the excessive demand for 3080 GPUs, we’re not stunned it is bought out in the intervening time.

HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment: Design

The HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop is a beautiful machine. It’d truly be the best-looking gaming desktop I’ve ever reviewed, combining a sturdy black chassis, a hanging entrance design and a good-looking glass aspect panel. The entrance of the machine has a glass face with a coloured LED diamond, and coloured LED fan lighting; the aspect of the machine permits you to see the attractive RGB parts inside. There are many holes for air flow on the perimeters, they usually appear like creative selections somewhat than mechanical requirements.

The system is not obnoxiously massive or heavy, both: 17.1 x 16.6 x 6.7 inches, and 28.4 kilos. This machine might in all probability stay on prime of a sturdy desk, though I stored our assessment unit on the ground with no unwell impact (as is the case with most of the greatest gaming desks). Neither boring nor overdesigned, the Omen 30L illustrates that gaming desktops can look downright elegant with the best aesthetics.

HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment: Ports and upgradability

There are many ports on the HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop. Whether or not they’re the ports you want, the place you want them, is one other matter. On the entrance of the machine, you get two USB-A ports, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a 3.5 mm mic jack and an SD card reader. You would possibly discover that there is not any USB-C port within the entrance; I definitely did. It is a unusual, inconvenient oversight in what’s in any other case such a robust system.

Granted, you do get a single USB-C port on the again, together with 5 extra USB-A ports, an Ethernet port and a handful of three.5 mm audio ports. You will additionally get DisplayPort and HDMI choices, relying in your GPU. There isn’t any optical audio port, which can come as a disappointment to audiophiles. Take a look at our picks for the perfect gaming headsets that can work with the Omen.

The inclusion of solely a single USB-C port — on the again of the machine, no much less — feels at-odds with the Omen 30L’s state-of-the-art parts. Many gaming peripherals (to not point out telephones) have embraced USB-C connectivity, and that is not more likely to change throughout the subsequent few years. I am unable to think about that almost all of avid gamers would somewhat have a front-facing SD card reader.

Alternatively, it isn’t too tough to improve the Omen 30L. You may take away the aspect panel with out utilizing instruments, and the format inside is each spacious and clear.

HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment: Gaming efficiency

The HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop delivers the type of efficiency you’d count on from a PC with an Intel Core i9 processor and a GeForce RTX 3080 GPU. Within the following chart, we have in contrast the Omen 30L to each the Dell XPS 8940 and the Corsair Vengeance i7200. They’re each highly effective gaming desktops that may — however do not should — cross the affordability threshold. The chart measures body charges in frames per second, at each 1080p and 4K resolutions, with recreation settings turned as much as Extremely.

The outcomes are fairly clear throughout the board. The HP Omen 30L carried out higher than the XPS 8940, however not in addition to the Corsair Vengeance i7200. Within the case of the Dell, this is sensible, as that machine has an RTX 3070 GPU somewhat than an RTX 3080. It is attention-grabbing that the Vengeance i7200 performs higher, nevertheless. Whereas each programs have RTX 3080 GPUs, the Vengeance i7200 truly has a much less highly effective processor.

There are some vital variations in 1080p efficiency between the Omen 30L and the Vengeance i7200; virtually 20 fps in Murderer’s Creed, and greater than 10 in GTAV. The 4K efficiency between the 2 is comparable, nevertheless, so bear that in thoughts if you happen to plan to play in UHD.

Qualitatively talking, the Omen 30L runs video games superbly. I examined the machine with Age of Empires III: Definitive Version, Doom Everlasting, Baldur’s Gate III and Closing Fantasy XIV. Even with the graphics cranked as much as Extremely on a QHD monitor, body charges normally exceeded 60 fps, and the video games themselves appeared phenomenal. The Omen 30L can deal with any PC recreation in the marketplace with ease, and the outlook for the following few years seems to be good as properly.

It is price noting that if you wish to broaden your storage choices, HP will give you HDD house by default. You could need to merely set up your individual SSD as an alternative; the distinction in load instances is appreciable.

HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment: Total efficiency

In the case of on a regular basis productiveness, the HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop isn’t any slouch, both. Operating all of my on a regular basis applications at full tilt (phrase processor, music participant, chat applications, e-mail shopper, and so forth.), I used about one-third of the system’s reminiscence and fewer than 10% of the CPU. As with most gaming desktops, workplace work can do little or no to faze the Omen 30L.

Likewise, the Omen 30L truly performs higher than the XPS 8940 and the Vengeance i7200 in sure productiveness metrics. It may possibly copy over 25 GB of media from a thumb drive at a price of 1,166 MBps. Evaluate and distinction to the XPS 8940 at 439 MBps or the Vengeance i7200 at 824 MBps.

By way of uncooked synthetic metrics, the Omen 30L scored an 11,258 on the Geekbench 5.4 benchmarking check. We’ve got not but used Geekbench 5.4 to benchmark different gaming PCs, so it is tough to say how the Omen 30L stacks up towards rivals. In a vacuum, it is a excessive rating, nevertheless. On a regular basis productiveness machines can rating round 1,500, as some extent of comparability.

As talked about above, the Omen 30L’s liquid cooling system is a factor of magnificence, maintaining the GPU cool (as much as 35 levels Celsius for productiveness; as much as 80 levels Celsius for gaming) and the system very quiet.

Nevertheless, there are two parts of the Omen 30L that can hamper your workflow, and people are the included mouse and keyboard. The HP USB Wired Keyboard and the HP USB Wired Mouse are, indubitably, the worst pack-in peripherals I’ve ever examined, and I can not advocate them, even simply as a stopgap whilst you select higher equipment.

The keyboard has a particularly low profile and shallow key journey, with little house between the keys and a design that places the very important F and J keys barely off-center. The mouse is likewise extraordinarily low to the bottom, and has a tiny, inefficient scroll wheel. These aren’t good gaming devices; they don’t seem to be even good productiveness devices. HP truly makes a handful of first rate gaming equipment, and I can not fathom why it did not embrace a few of these.

HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment: Software program

One other space the place the HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop falls brief is in its included software program bundle. There is a truthful quantity of preinstalled software program, and none of it’s actually helpful. There’s an audio supervisor, which isn’t any higher than the common Home windows sound system. There’s the HP JumpStarts program, which looks as if a complete lot of advertisements on prime of a serial quantity, and never a lot else. The Omen Gaming Hub controls the PC’s lighting, which is beneficial — but it surely additionally delivers advertisements, and presents to handle your video games in ways in which the Nvidia GeForce Expertise software program already does higher.

The actual bugbear, nevertheless, is the preinstalled McAfee Antivirus. I’ve written earlier than about how McAfee eats up system assets, whereas false-flagging recreation recordsdata and forcing you to run this system always. Uninstall it and use Home windows Defender as an alternative; you and your PC will each be happier. Higher but: As quickly as you get the Omen 30L, simply wipe it clear and set up a contemporary copy of Home windows 10. You may obtain the Omen software program to handle lighting individually.

HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop assessment: Verdict

Regardless of some questionable equipment and software program, the HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop is a factor of magnificence. It is elegant, quiet and highly effective. It is also extraordinarily costly, and it may be fairly complicated to purchase the best one, so be ready to do some analysis if it sounds just like the gaming rig for you.

The Corsair Vengeance i7200 is arguably a extra highly effective machine in the identical common value vary, and that is additionally fairly a fairly machine. However the Vengeance can also be barely bigger and bulkier, and there is nothing incorrect with wanting to avoid wasting a little bit house on prime of your desk — or beneath it.