HP brought back its 15-inch gaming line with the HyperX Omen 15, but initial testing shows its graphics package cannot always keep pace with its screen. In a detailed review from Notebookcheck, the fully loaded $2,150 configuration paired Intel's Core Ultra 9 386H Panther Lake processor with an 85W Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 and a 120Hz 1800p OLED display.
Notebookcheck found that the 85W power cap throttles the laptop's gaming output compared to rival machines. Laptops running the identical RTX 5070 at higher wattages, including Lenovo's Legion 5 15IAX11 and HP's larger HyperX Omen 16, delivered 10 to 20 percent faster frame rates in the outlet's tests. While older titles had no trouble, fresh releases such as Forza Horizon 6 and Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced struggled at 1440p and higher resolutions, even when using DLSS upscaling or frame generation. The outlet observed that pushing native 3K resolution requires dropping visual detail lower than expected for a $2,150 machine.
Thermals and Chassis Upgrades
Thermals tell a clearer story about why HP made that power choice. Surface temperatures stayed in the mid-30C range during gaming sessions. Fan noise registered at 52.3 dB(A) in Performance mode and fell to 46.4 dB(A) in Balanced mode, though switching to Balanced reduced graphics performance by another 8 percent in Fire Strike. Under Prime95 stress testing, the Core Ultra 9 386H initially pushed 3.4 GHz at 80W before falling to 3.0 GHz and 60W after 30 seconds. In Notebookcheck's processor benchmarks, the Panther Lake chip ran within 10 to 15 percent of the Core i9-14900HX while drawing far less power.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.