HP Targets the DIY Crowd with New High-End Gaming Gear

HP continues its assault on the premium PC segment with its most impressive gaming gear yet: A stunning new OMEN X Desktop that is aimed a the Do It Yourself (DIY) crowd, a 17-inch OMEN laptop, an OMEN X Curved Display, and a new lineup of SteelSeries accessories.

Yikes!

“The OMEN X Desktop was built for serious gamers who need fierce performance out-of-the-box in a fully customizable chassis, something not typically available from traditional PC manufacturers,” HP VP Kevin Frost said in a prepared statement. “HP’s engineers combined a unique design that maximizes thermal management with support for industry standard components so that the true enthusiast can always be up to date with the latest hardware to maintain peak performance with a customized rig.”

Today’s announcements expand on the family of OMEN gaming products that HP announced back in May. And frankly, they raise the bar quite a bit. Here’s what’s happening.

OMEN X Desktop

Housed in a unique cube design that is tilted to 45 degrees, this stunning new desktop hardware—OK, it’s probably better off placed on the floor—features a unique tri-chamber liquid cooling design. The stock configuration features an Intel Core i7-6700K processor, 8 GB of RAM, a 256 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD drive and a 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD, and either an AMD Radeon RX480 graphics card with 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 RAM or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card with 8 GB of dedicated GDDR5X RAM. So, yes, it’s VR capable, obviously.

The design is aimed directly at DIY gamers who might otherwise build their own PCs. The GPU, hard drives and power supply are each housed in their own cooling chamber and are easily accessible and replaceable. The system is basically tool-less—OK, one flathead screwdriver is required, but it’s included—and all of the parts are industry standard and can be swapped out as newer components are released.

“We figured maximum performance was the key concern with gamers,” HP’s Mike Nash told me. “But our feedback was clear: The ability to upgrade and be current is the most important.”

The OMEN X Desktop will be available at select US retailers starting on October 16 and will start at $2,099.99. But real DIYers can purchase an empty OMEN X chassis for $599.99 starting tomorrow, August 17 from HP.com. HP will also directly sell a fully configurable version for $1,799 and up.

OMEN 17 Laptop

The new OMEN 17 Laptop is powered by the recently-announced NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 and 1070 graphics, and provides VR-capable performance in a portable PC form factor for the first time.

It also features quad speakers with Bang & Olufsen audio, support for 4K display resolutions, a mini Display Port for dual 2K or 4K output, and a 95W polymer battery for up to 7.55 hours of run time.

The OMEN 17 Laptop will be available on HP.com starting at $1,599.99. (It’s not clear exactly when, sorry.)

OMEN X Curved Display

The HP OMEN X Curved Display is the first from HP to offer NVIDIA G-Sync Technology, which HP says provides more choices for customers seeking wide viewing angles and a smooth gaming experience. I don’t have any imagery for this device, but I assume it’s based on the firm’s amazing curved displays. But then it won’t ship until early 2017 anyway.

SteelSeries accessories

Rather than reinvent the wheel, HP has partnered with SteelSeries Accessories to bring a cool range of gaming accessories to market. These include:

OMEN Headset. This $80 headset features lightweight suspension construction to evenly spread the weight over the entire band, allowing gamers to play longer, more comfortably.

OMEN Keyboard. This $100 keyboard Enables nice personalization functionality with over 16.8 million colors to create unique color schemes and allow for color changes in response to gameplay action.

OMEN Mouse. This $60 mouse features unmatched performance and nice customization options like RGB illumination, 6 fully programmable action buttons, and zero hardware acceleration for 1:1 tracking and precise movement.

OMEN Mouse Pad. This $20 mouse pad features a high quality, non-slip rubber base and the precision professionals rely on with a durable smooth, surface.

These accessories will ship in mid-September 2016 at HP.com and in retail.