Gaming PCs are in vogue now, and what used to be the domain of boutique builders is now become something offered by almost everyone. HP is no stranger to this market, as they acquired a boutique builder - Voodoo PC - back in 2006. Since that time they have replaced the branding with Omen, but maintained both some of the character, as well as the unique logo associated with that brand. The Omen Obelisk 875 is the latest in a line of these desktops, which brings the latest and greatest offerings from Nvidia and Intel to the table. Is it worth the asking price? Let’s dig in.
The Omen Obelisk represents the entry level Omen desktop line. Compared to its larger Omen brethren, the Obelisk is more compact, less upgradable, and features a more limited set of configuration. Essentially what you get in this relatively small package, is a single chamber Micro-ATX computer layout, bottom mount power supply, dual 3.5” bays that are easy swap-in/out in arrangement.
This configuration includes an Intel i7-8700 6-core CPU, 16GB DDR4, 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD, 2TB HDD, and the star of the show, the GeForce RTX 2080 8GB GDDR6. This is a potent configuration, featuring last year’s fastest non-k CPU, and this years fastest GPU under the $1k mark. This is a lot of hardware crammed into a relatively small case. I’m no stranger to small form factor builds, and this one has some issues - but are easily correctable with some investment.
-- Design --
Inside the box is very little other than the tower. There is a bag of paperwork with an overview of your new computer. A power cord, and the obligatory keyboard and mouse are also found here. You won’t want to use the keyboard and mouse if you bought this $2k gaming rig.
This computer comes with a tempered glass window on the side w/ RGB lighting. This once novel feature has turned somewhat mainstream for gaming computers. The lighting consists of both a main LED bar found at the top of the case, and the Omen logo, which acts as a separate zone. These are controllable via the Omen Command Center software and can not only be a static color, but have animations, even ones that indicate temperature. The software is fairly well executed, but the animations aren’t quite as smooth as you’d see on some. Interestingly, the GPU has an LED X found on the outside of the shroud that is the default Omen red - but lacks any control and is hardly visible with only about an inch of clearance between it and the power supply casing.
Aesthetically the computer is sort of a mixed bag. The cable management is pretty good, with only a bit of ATX power cable being coiled at the bottom. The stock fan arrangement is just an 80mm exhaust fan, and the CPU fan - which is just a small step above the Intel stock cooler. The case is blacked out, including a black motherboard, black GPU, black power supply, black powder coating inside and out, and all black cabling. A single RAM slot, which is bright red, is populated with Kingston Hyper X ram shrouded in black with white lettering. This black theme breaks down on the m.2 SSD, which is a green PCB and really the only wart on this otherwise nicely executed monochromatic build.
The case is easy to open, and while filled with some OEM style engineering tricks, is generally easy to work with. HP even provides video tutorials on everything from opening the side case (just push the convenient button) to replacing the motherboard. One thing that you won’t see in many other builds is the tempered glass is attached to the steel panel. Most manufacturers just use a drilled piece of tempered glass and affix with standoffs. The HP has a carefully engineered side panel with mounted glass. This means it is sealed much better than most other cases. The 3.5” drive mounts are tooless, and even support mounting 2.5” SSDs (BYO screws). There are filters, some removable, some not, everywhere, which should make maintenance easy enough.
The CPU is Intel’s venerable i7 8700. This is the non-k CPU, with a 65w TDP - which is the most this board is designed for. The 6 core i7 has a base 3.2GHz frequency, but an all core boost speed of 4.3GHz which i’ve found can be held indefinitely using Intel’s XTU tooling. However, the CPU cooler is pretty bad. While it actually does keep the CPU cool and at least in a 21C ambient environment away from thermal throttling (just barely - peaking at 94C), it’s extremely loud. The fan ramps up, and between it and the exhaust fan heat pours out the back like a space heater.
The GPU is an HP designed RTX 2080. This card is a blower style design with a shiny logo and LED lit red X that is hardly visible in this build. The card follows what appears to be the Nvidia reference board (although I did not disassemble it) and includes an aluminum backplate. The card weighs 1.25Kg (nearly 3lbs), so it definitely includes some cooling. As with most blower designs, the card is both loud and hot. The good news is that the noise isn’t annoying like the CPU, but rather a low rumble. The RTX 2080 design here generally is boosting to 1920Mhz until it hits its target temperature - at which point it does slowly drop back down to 1710, then its base frequency of 1515. The card seems to keep its 1710 boost in all but the worst synthetic loads, but this is definitely RTX 2080 reference clocks with no real headroom. Essentially this card performs worse than Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Founders Edition and worse than most 1080ti cards. That said it’s still a beast of a card, just limited by its own thermal design.
-- Performance --
The Obelisk doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the task it was designed for. I ran the following benchmarks:
Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark: 76 FPS 2560x1440 on Ultra settings
Deus Ex Mankind Divided benchmark: Min 49.0, Max 75.1 Avg: 60.1 2560x1440 on Ultra settings
3DMark TimeSpy - 9525, Firestrike - 20975
Cinebench R15: (1242 stock/1388 with XTU tweaks)
It’s important to remember this is out of the box stock with components that are somewhat thermally constrained and single channel RAM. Sure an RTX 2080 FE would perform better, dual channel ram might make up a few FPS, and an 8700k would keep things even faster, but there is no denying that this is a capable gaming rig. I did fire up some Battlefield V with ray tracing enabled. It looks nice, but honestly I have a hard time in such a fast paced game appreciating reflections.
The included SSD is a decent performer. It is a Toshiba model (KBG30ZMV256G) and reads and writes sequentially around 1600 and 950MB/s respectively. It also does a good job in 4k reads and writes (500/450MB/s).
-- Upgradability --
HP will advertise that it is a highly upgradable system, and while that isn’t untrue, it isn’t going to offer the easiest of upgrade paths. The biggest issue here is the stock Omen motherboard - the Edoras. Yes, it appears to be named for a Tolkien LOTR location with some potential references I won’t explore. It’s an H370 chipset, Intel’s top of the line non-overclocking chipset, which offers a good feature set. The board is designed with VRMs/power delivery for 65w TDP chips, so the fastest chip this board will ever see is already installed. Oddly, the motherboard only includes 2 RAM slots despite being a full-sized mATX board (as opposed to the conventional 4 slots) meaning that you’ll max out RAM at 32GB. The is only 1 m.2 slot (typical) and supports 2280 NVMe based drives which would be easy enough to replace. The 500w power supply is stout for its rating (40A on the 12v rail), but limiting overall, as between the CPU (65w)/GPU (215w) and other components, it’s pulling close enough to its rating. You could ostensibly replace the motherboard and power supply, but both will be difficult tasks in this chassis due to the compact nature and cable management system (perfectly laid out for this board, but not really much else). The LED control is farmed out to a separate daughter board that appears to use a USB header, so at least that seems easy enough. The GPU might pose some problem due to the mounting bracket (although based on cursory observations, it appears as though Nvidia reference style coolers should be fine here).
I added a Corsair H60 120mm radiator to the CPU. This dramatically helped temperatures, both ambient in the case, and CPU package. This case does support adding a 120mm radiator (and only a 120mm radiator). There is a removable metal sheet at the top of the case. This sheet has 4 cutouts that can be removed using a screwdriver that will allow airflow. Once these are removed, you can mount either a 120mm fan or 120mm radiator. The radiator is just what this compact case needed to dissipate the heat of the 8700. The installation of such however, required removing the motherboard, which was no small task. I also had to detach the stock backplate, which had a significant amount of adhesive padding on the back. This is probably further than a normal consumer would want to go with their $2k computer, so while I like this option the best, it’s hard to recommend.
Ram wise, I found while Best Buy doesn’t carry the matching stick of RAM, another online retailer we’ve all heard of does. I will comment back once I see what impact dual channel and 32GB make.
-- Conclusion --
While some may argue (and rightfully so) that building your own rig will be faster, cheaper, and better - the answer is that it always depends. If you have no interest in building a computer, but rather just gaming - then this HP Omen is a serious consideration. You get top tier components, RGB lighting, tempered glass, and a reasonably small form factor. On sale, this can even be quite competitive or cheaper than building, especially with the GPU starting at $700 alone. My biggest complaint here is the CPU cooler, which is atrocious for the heat the CPU puts out.