HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop Review

HP's Omen gaming desktops are some of the virtually well-known pre-congenital gaming machines on the market, and they have been for many years now, since the days when Omen was nevertheless VoodooPC.

Though the VoodooPC brand was retired in 2022, it has lived on as a partition of HP, who continued to use Voodoo'south distinct tribal mask logo until just recently. The new Omen logo debuted months ago when HP reworked the brand. That overhaul brought new product additions and a more than mature wait -- nosotros recently checked out the Omen 15 Ryzen gaming laptop -- and on the desktop side nosotros have Omen's latest systems: the 30L and the 25L.

Over the by few weeks I've been using the HP Omen 30L equally my daily driver desktop alongside the HP Omen 27i gaming monitor (1440p 165Hz). The Omen 30L configuration we received includes an AMD Radeon 5700 XT graphics card, HyperX 16GB DDR4 RAM clocked at 3200MHz, and a Ryzen 5 3600, our choice for best value CPU. HP also tossed in a WD Black 256GB NVMe SSD and a 1TB 7200RPM HDD for all our storage needs (with space for 2 extra 2.five-inch drives), plus all the cooling, PSU and case design is by Libation Master.

For reference, that function list mostly lines upwardly with the Omen 30L'south base of operations configuration that sells for $999, except for the RAM which is down to 8GB by default. This should be sufficient for most, but a bit on the low side given the demands of adjacent-generation gaming, so we'd probably recommend upping that to 16GB at the first opportunity.

Design

Aesthetically, the Omen 30L is a beautiful machine. HP'due south custom chassis made by Cooler Master combines metal panels with tempered glass for a sleek, minimalist look. It's not as flashy every bit something you might see from Alienware, but that's hardly a bad thing -- in some situations, less is more, and I believe the 30L is an first-class case of that.

When the organization is idle, a vibrant, white diamond-shaped LED (the new Omen logo) fades in and out behind the all-glass forepart console. Etched into the glass beneath the logo is the e'er-visible "Omen" text. It would've been prissy if the text was also LED-lit, only an carving gets the job done besides.

When you turn the system on from sleep, the forepart console's LED fan whirrs to life, and the Omen logo stops flashing, switching to a steady glow. In a nighttime room, the lights are quite striking.

The Omen 30L's streamlined look continues when you open up the tempered glass side panel. Bated from the RGB RAM and case fan, there aren't many flashy lights hither. Some might be disappointed by this, but personally, I don't tend to look at the left side of my organization that much due to my desk-bound layout.

After my fourth dimension with the Omen 30L, I but have two complaints with the PC'due south design -- i was a scrap more serious, but the other is more of a personal nitpick. We'll start with the sometime: when I booted up the 30L for the first time and navigated to HP'south Omen Control Center software (I'll discuss that more than in a few moments), I started adjusting the colors of the organisation's light-equipped parts -- the front console LEDs, the CPU fan LED, and of course, the RGB RAM.

I chop-chop realized that the colors were a chip off. Every LED, except the logo, wasn't quite what I set it to -- when I switched them to orangish, they were yellow, and when I changed them to red, they looked pink. This is arguably a minor problem, just given how rock-solid the rest of the 30L's design was, it was a bit jarring.

I'm not sure whether something was wrong with the LEDs or if the issue is software-related. In either case, I but decided to set all the lights to white to avoid the hassle. Unfortunate, but not dealbreaking.

The second, less dramatic complaint, I have relates to the front USB ports on the 30L. Information technology'southward swell having them in that location, just instead of facing forward or sitting on a flat surface on peak of the machine, the I/O section (and the power button) is located in a large, inset groove in the superlative console. Some might adopt this aesthetically, but the pattern made it easier for grit and grime to build up in my feel.

Out of the Box Impressions

After carefully inspecting each of the 30L's primary components during the setup process, I plant that they were all firmly secured in place out of the box. It's not uncommon for, say, a video menu connector or RAM stick to come loose during aircraft (sometimes due to poor QA on the builder'south part), and then I was pleased to see that wasn't something I'd demand to worry well-nigh.

HP's organisation builders also did a fantastic chore with cable management. Everything from the instance LED cables to the GPU power cord is neatly routed backside the motherboard. Compared to the spaghetti-like mess that many PC building novices (including myself, once upon a time) current of air up with when they finish putting together their first gaming rig, it doesn't become much improve than this.

Afterwards plugging in the car using the included power cable (running from a Cooler Master 500W power supply, which was a bit lower than I'd like), I was able to get up and running correct abroad. Windows was fully updated and the latest Radeon graphics drivers were already installed.

Sadly, the Omen 30L comes with the usual load of bloatware that we tend to encounter in new PCs: McAfee, an Office 365 trial, and plenty of HP'southward own apps and software. Fortunately, uninstalling all of those programs took less than 10 minutes, and one of them, the aforementioned Omen Control Eye, was really quite useful.

The program is nicely laid out and includes a few neat features. For example, you tin can alter and sync up the lighting for all your RGB-equipped devices, or test out HP's game streaming feature, Remote Play (it works similarly to the Steam function with the same name).

It also let me tweak the response time and picture mode of the HP Omen 27i gaming monitor within the software, though farther adjustments withal needed to exist made via the panel'due south on-screen display. The Control Center has a few actress services that we ignored, such equally Omen Rewards and Coaching, just users with an HP account might find them compelling.

Connectivity

Modernistic systems demand modern connectivity solutions, and the Omen 30L won't disappoint the boilerplate user in that location. The top panel's I/O port array consists of 2x USB 3.two Gen 1x1 Type-A ports, a microphone jack, and i headphone/mic combo port.

Circling around to the rear of the 30L, we get 1x USB Type-C (10Gbps) port, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 port, and four additional USB three.2 Gen 1x1 ports. There's too the usual audio in/out jacks, an RJ-45 slot, and a port for external microphones.

All in all, that fix of ports should be more than plenty to satisfy the boilerplate gamer, and it'due south definitely nice to encounter back up for USB Type-C here. Briefly touching on wireless applied science, the 30L has built-in Bluetooth, as well equally Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, and Realtek Wi-Fi 5.

Build Quality

At half-dozen.v x 15.53 x 17.05 inches and about 28.5 pounds, the Omen 30L doesn't differ too much from competing machines in the size or weight section. However, as noted previously, information technology is composed nigh entirely out of metal (except for its four plastic feet), which contributes to nigh of its weight and gives it a overnice, sturdy experience. Even when applying intense pressure to the 30L's rear console, I wasn't able to warp it much at all. The cooling grills (located to the left and correct of the front-facing glass panel) flex a flake more, just not to a apropos degree.

To some extent, build quality excellence is more of a nice-to-take than a critical characteristic in a PC chassis. Afterwards all, you lot probably aren't going to be dropping or knocking over a full-sized tower anytime soon, and if yous practise, y'all'll have other things to worry almost besides mere case impairment.

Still, when y'all're shelling out $ane,000 or more for a motorcar like this, you want something that feels like it'southward going to last a while, and the 30L certainly fits the bill there.

In a way, the 30L'southward excellent construction wound up being more of a downside than upside. When I attempted to remove the dorsum console of the system'due south chassis to audit HP'due south cablevision management, I realized I couldn't -- not easily, anyhow. There were no thumbscrews, no latches, and no grips that immune me to slide the console off. It was firmly rooted in identify.

Afterwards a bit of inquiry, and stumbling upon a support video from HP, I discovered that you first demand to remove a special retaining screw within the case before taking off the back panel. That's a cumbersome design conclusion that might make it a bit more challenging to upgrade the PC down the line.

Since fifty-fifty casual PC gamers will probably want to replace the occasional part over the (hopefully) many years they'd take a motorcar like the 30L, the process should be every bit simple equally possible. Notwithstanding, a small issue in the g scheme of things, and one that'southward easily circumvented with a quick Google search and a fleck of actress elbow grease.

As with most pre-built systems, HP saw fit to include a basic mouse and keyboard with the 30L. Unfortunately, "basic" is a generous way to describe them. The keyboard has apartment, laptop-way keys, which some might similar only I find them less than ideal for typing or gaming. Perhaps that's simply me used to fancier mechanical keyboards. The mouse is also a simple three-button thing, and its standard one-size-fits-all design was nothing to write home most.

Pre-built machines seldom ship with tiptop-of-the-line gaming peripherals unless y'all already pay for them in the overall package. Well-nigh serious PC gamers purchase the rigs for the chassis and internals and discard the included mouse-and-keyboard kits. Afterward all, decent yet affordable gaming gear is relatively like shooting fish in a barrel to come by these days. Companies like HP are aware of this, so it's understandable that it chose to funnel its resources toward more essential parts of the machine here. If HP had to cut costs somewhere, I'm glad they did it hither and not in another more critical area of the 30L.

What'southward to Similar

For $999, I think the Omen 30L is a fantastic buy. Without factoring in the cost of the instance, power supply, Windows ten, or the included basic peripherals, you volition be spending that amount for a similarly-specced, custom-built automobile. Add together those missing pieces to the equation and you'll spend about $200 more than buying pre-congenital from HP. In other words, value is pretty good on the Omen.

If you lot're in the market for a complete gaming system with reasonably modern hardware and the power to tackle new games with ease, you tin't go incorrect with the 30L. Naturally, if you're not happy with the baseline hardware configuration and accept actress greenbacks to burn, you can always upgrade the components during the checkout process. However you should note we're in the middle of a transition and by the finish of the year new CPUs and GPUs volition have arrived, especially on the high-terminate sector.

For a mainstream-priced car though, the Radeon RX 5700 XT is a particularly good GPU choice, and the price seems to be right for this Omen build. By yr'south finish, nosotros wouldn't be surprised if HP upgraded the same Omen chassis to be equipped with Zen 3 CPUs and GeForce RTX 3000 series GPUs, but those volition be more expensive, of course. If you lot have storage concerns, the included NVMe capacity tin also exist increased to a maximum of 2TB.

The Omen 30L is not without its problems, of course. A 500W power supply is likely not going to cut it with power-hungry monster GPUs, and the strange LED lightning issues I had with my review unit's are not ones I'd wish on paying customers.

Ultimately though, I don't think any of those small-scale issues backbite from the Omen 30L's overall value suggestion. If y'all meet any problems, you can always recall HP's support line for help, and you're covered by a 1-twelvemonth express hardware warranty should more than serious, RMA-worthy organization failures pop up.