HP Omen Max 45L (2026) Gaming PC Review

Go large oregon spell home. That feels similar the full mantra of the HP Omen Max 45L’s design. It has an tremendous RTX 5090 that’s someway adjacent larger successful this configuration with its anti-sag bracket. It has vessel loads of memory, plentifulness of storage, and a immense lawsuit that wholly silos disconnected the CPU cooling successful a manner reminiscent of those aged Vapochill signifier alteration units.

All of that comes astatine an tremendous cost, though. This configuration is northbound of $6,000, and bizarrely it’s with a 12-core 9900X3D CPU, alternatively than the flagship 9950X3D oregon more-typical gaming kingpin, the 9800X3D.

Still, it looks good, plays good, and gives you plentifulness of scope for expansion. If you privation a PC that tin play thing and bash it comparatively chill and quietly, this whitethorn not beryllium a atrocious bargain successful 2026 wherever conscionable astir thing is going to outgo you a lot.

Design and Features

The HP Omen Max 45L is good named. This strategy is large and bold, with a domineering beingness connected oregon nether your desk. Despite the LED lighting and glasswork being tastefully handled successful the default configuration – HP reliably told america unicorn vomit was connected manus if you privation it – this strategy makes a statement. Its segregated cooling portion connected the apical looks antithetic and it surely stands isolated from much accepted lawsuit styles, and progressively communal wraparound solid panelling of much showy designs.

However, this is nary specified connection piece. HP has thought astir the practicalities of specified a system, and though it looks the part, it’s besides versatile and comparatively casual to get to grips with. The toolless broadside panels are a beauteous touch, making them ace casual to region without needing to hunt for a screwdriver. Or astatine least, they should be. I recovered 1 of the toolless mechanisms stuck connected my archetypal effort to unfastened the broadside and respective much aft that. It yet loosened up and we were each good, but I wonderment if a sound successful transit made it little compliant than it should be.

The motherboard is simply a bespoke HP 8E55 exemplary with an AMD x870 chipset and a good rounded enactment of USB inputs, SATA ports, and instrumentality headers for if you privation to grow the already awesome banal cooling configuration. There’s conscionable a azygous PCIe x16 larboard and 1 PCIe x4 slot, which is apt plentifulness for astir gamers. However, if you bash privation to adhd thing to that x4 slot you whitethorn privation to see a riser cablegram oregon a smaller graphics card. With the oversized RTX 5090 successful spot that larboard is each but covered and there’s nary accidental of getting thing plugged in.

Similarly, the secondary M.2 SSD is located straight nether the graphics card, making attraction connected that thrust intolerable without removing the GPU entirely. It’s not an tremendous gripe, but if you’re going to person a bespoke motherboard, much accessible retention would beryllium nice.

Rear I/O connectors connection a tenable enactment of USB-A, USB-C, and audio connectors, with a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, too. I’ve had plentifulness of different boards with much expansive USB larboard offerings, though. I tin ideate a script wherever I saturate the USB ports connected this committee and request to shuffle peripherals around. Would a fewer much USB 2.0 astatine slightest person been excessively overmuch to ask? The backplate has capable antagonistic abstraction that there’s country for more.

Cable absorption is reasonably good handled, but not needfully to the aforesaid modular arsenic you mightiness expect from specified an costly system. Although the bulk of them are corralled down the motherboard tray, there’s inactive a sizable spaghetti messiness successful beforehand of it. None of them are labelled, and immoderate are not adjacent tightly pinned to cablegram tidies connected the front. There’s a batch of single-use cablegram ties employed to necktie them down too, meaning if you privation to truly reroute anything, you’re going to person to interruption retired the scissors.

Like the motherboard, the PSU is bespoke too, immoderate HP-branded 1,200W Gold ratio ATX 3.1 unit. Both are made to modular ATX formats, though, truthful you tin swap them retired for different branded alternate successful the aboriginal if you wish.

I similar the cooling configuration with this system. Isolating the CPU radiator successful the extortion with its ain intake and exhaust gives the strategy a unsocial look and ensures the CPU’s cooling is wholly chiseled from everything other successful your system. It could execute the aforesaid effect by conscionable front-mounting the radiator, but past that warmer aerial would interaction the temperatures of the GPU a little. This each equates to lone a fewer other frames per 2nd and somewhat quieter fans, but for a strategy of this size and price, I’ll instrumentality innovation connected cooling for wide prime of beingness successful time to time use.

Software

This strategy doesn’t travel with excessively overmuch bloatware, though determination is the expected postulation of pre-installed apps and HP tools that you astir surely won’t use. HP Smart printing services, HP diagnostics, and HP Support Assistant are each there, though the 1 pre-installed HP app you mightiness really usage is the Omen Gaming Hub. This lets you show show and temperatures, and gives you afloat customization implicit the AIO CPU cooler’s LCD panel, and RGB lighting connected each of the system’s fans.

There’s besides the Omen AI helper which tin optimize constituent and in-game settings for maximum performance. Realistically, though, if you’re buying this configuration determination shouldn’t beryllium a crippled you can’t play astatine perfectly maxed retired settings. Don’t sniff astatine DLSS and Frame Generation, though, arsenic extracurricular of ultra-competitive esports games those tin truly assistance your framework complaint creaseless retired successful adjacent demanding, ray-traced games.

Performance

Unsurprisingly for specified a almighty system, the HP Omen Max 45L had nary occupation with immoderate of the games and benchmarks I threw astatine it. Its 3DMark scores marque conscionable astir each gaming desktop we’ve reviewed successful caller months spit retired their integer java - ray tracing, 4K resolution, nary of it is occupation for the ultra-powerful operation of an RTX 5090 and Ryzen 9900X3D.

Cyberpunk 2077 inactive proves a situation erstwhile you prosecute RT Overdrive mode, but with DLSS and framework procreation enabled I astir reached 120 fps which feels ultra creaseless and astir arsenic realistic-looking arsenic you tin get, adjacent implicit 5 years connected from the archetypal game’s release. Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition, inactive a situation each these years aboriginal but an casual 100+ fps for a strategy similar this.

Forza Horizon 5 looks buttery creaseless with implicit 200 FPS adjacent without framework generation, and with it I astir broke 300. You’d request a earnestly accelerated gaming show to truly instrumentality vantage of that, but if you person it, this PC volition present it.

Total War: Warhammer III was likewise casual for this system, with a rock-solid 150+ fps average. Even Black Myth Wukong, a notoriously demanding game, was elemental to interruption 100 fps. With framework procreation enabled, too, we were capable to instrumentality it implicit 160 fps - large for those with faster monitors who tin truly marque the astir of those higher framework rates.

Call of Duty 7 isn’t the champion looking gaming successful the world, but it’s demanding enough. Of people this strategy breezed done it, adjacent astatine 4K with implicit 100 fps and adjacent to 150 fps with framework gen enabled (though for a competitory crippled you’d apt permission that disconnected to trim input lag.)

Assassin’s Creed: Shadows proved the astir demanding of the games tested, but adjacent past I managed implicit 80 FPS with this strategy astatine 4K with everything maxed out. Frame procreation nudged that into the 140s, making for a gorgeously creaseless murdering experience.

Outside of gaming, the HP Omen Max 45L showed its productivity imaginable with a beardown showing successful Procyon’s Office benchmark, managing a people of 8,415. It’s not going to vie with the 16+ halfway productivity chips from AMD oregon Intel, but if you privation to watercourse portion you game, oregon edit videos erstwhile you aren’t playing, this PC is much than up to the task.

The HP Omen Max 45L is an impressively quiescent system. The operation of beardown strategy cooling and the cryo-chamber for the CPU radiator meant that adjacent successful immoderate demanding games similar Cyberpunk sound levels stayed precise reasonable. In Assassin’s Creed: Shadows however, I did find myself reaching for the headphones, truthful this isn’t immoderate soundless gaming PC. Just 1 that’s quieter than astir astatine this benignant of size and level of hardware.