When it comes to the easy-to-access top ports, the Omen Max 45L is well-equipped. There are two USB-A (5 Gbps) ports and a single USB-C (10 Gbps) port for connecting thumb drives or other peripherals you need to plug in quickly, without getting on your knees and fiddling with the rear I/O panel. Also up top is a single headphone/microphone combo jack.
Our review unit uses a custom HP 8E55 motherboard with an AMD X870 chipset. The port allotment is plentiful, with four USB-A (480 Mbps) ports, two USB-A (5 Gps) ports, one USB-C (10 Gbps) port, and one Thunderbolt 4 port. There's also a 2.5 GbE port and audio ports. There's also a built-in MediaTek Wi-Fi 7 adapter and Bluetooth 5.4.
The toolless chassis makes it easy to get into the Omen Max. There's a button located above the glass side panel labeled “Internal Access” that you press. Once you push it in, the panel pivots outward, and you can then lift it out of the chassis. The same setup is repeated for the panel on the opposite side of the chassis.
Although HP uses its own motherboard, you can fit any standard ATX motherboard in the chassis if you wish to upgrade in the future. The 8E55 includes four DIMM slots , two of which were populated in our review unit, for a total of 64GB of DDR5-6000 memory.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) The motherboard features a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and a PCIe 4.0 x4 slot. The Omen Max 45L comes with two M.2 storage slots onboard, and both are filled with 2TB PCIe 4.0 Samsung SSDs. The M.2 Gen 5.0 SSD slot is located above the x16 connector (with a heatsink for the SSD), while the Gen 4.0 SSD is located below (no heatsink here). Accessing the Gen 5 slot is possible without removing the graphics card, although it’s a tight fit for your hands. The Gen 4 slot, however, requires removing the graphics card, which is made more laborious by the retention brackets that must be removed first.
HP uses a modular 1,200W ATX 3.1 PSU, which you can swap out in the future should your power needs increase.
With the panel removed on the opposite side of the chassis, you can install a 3.5-inch hard drive.
Our Omen Max 45L review unit features an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D processor, 64GB of DDR5-6000 memory, and a GeForce RTX 5090, which are definitely flagship-worthy specs.
We pitted the system against two variants of the Alienware Area-51 (one with a Core Ultra 9 285K and one with a Ryzen 9 9950X3D, both of which include an RTX 5090). The other two systems that were thrown into the mix include the Alienware Aurora R16 and Corsair Vengeance i7500, which feature Core i9-14900K processors and RTX 4090 GPUs.
I booted up Battlefield 6 to get my butt handed to me on a dust-covered plate. Battlefield 6 is a well-optimized game, and an RTX 5090 can push upwards of 300 frames per second depending on the resolution. However, I tested the Omen Max 45L at 5120 x 1440 resolution with the Overkill graphics option enabled with DLSS 4.5 in Quality mode. I averaged between 160 and 180 FPS with these settings and noticed only a low hum from the system and GPU fans.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) With the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Highest setting), the Omen Max 45L cranked 329 FPS at 1080p and 170 FPS at 4K. The 1080p performance was over 30 FPS higher than the next-closest Vengeance i7500, while the 4K performance was more in line with the two Area-51 systems.
The Omen Max 45L again stretched its legs at 1080p in Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra settings), hitting 146 FPS, a 21 FPS improvement over the second-place Vengeance i7500. The Omen Max eked out 50 FPS at 4K resolution, putting it slightly ahead of the competition.
We once again saw the Omen Max 45L punching above its weight class in the CPU-intensive Far Cry 6 . It delivers 187 FPS at 1080p resolution, nearly 30 FPS higher than the Vengeance i7500. Shifting to 4K resolution, the Omen Max 45L actually found itself in that rear of the pack at 111 FPS. The fastest among the assembled group was the Area-51 (AMD) at 128 FPS.
Our Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) benchmark allowed the Omen Max 45L to reach 217 FPS at 1080p, putting it slightly ahead of the Vengeance i7500 (209 FPS). At 4K resolution, it also took top honors with 124 FPS.
Borderlands 3 is another CPU-heavy title, and it was the only gaming benchmark where the Omen Max 45L didn't lead the charts at 1080p resolution. It delivered 248 FPS at 1080p (tied for last place) and 185 FPS at 4K resolution (the best among the group).
The Metro Exodus benchmark remains our go-to for stress testing gaming desktops. After running the Omen Max 45 through 15 loops, it averaged 157.68 FPS.
The AMD Zen 5 cores averaged 4.93 GHz and measured 49.8 Celsius. The GPU clocked in at 2,469.77 MHz and measured 48.2 C. During the stress test, the fans slowly ramped, but were never louder than a low hum.
The Omen Max 45L is well-stacked to handle productivity work, given that it's paired with a Ryzen 9 9900X3D, 64GB of RAM, and two 2TB SSDs.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) Starting with Geekbench 6, the Omen Max 45L was second only to the Area-51 with a Ryzen 9 9950X3D in single-core score (3,253 against Alienware's 3,384). However, the standings were quite different for the multi-core score, as the system fell to last place (18,394) primarily due to its shortfall in assembled CPU cores.
When it came to our file transfer test, the Omen Max 45L came out guns blazing, reaching 2,645.53 MBps while transferring 25GB of data. This put it well ahead of all the competing systems, with the exception of the Area-51 (AMD), which scored a stellar 3,414.29 MBps.
Our Handbrake benchmark relies heavily on multi-threaded performance when transcoding a 4K video to 1080p. The Omen Max 45L managed a third-place showing (2:08), placing it behind the two Area-51 systems, which completed the task in under two minutes.
McAfee Online Protection is installed by default and provides some nifty perks, such as a Scam Detector (protection against email, text, and video scams), an integrated VPN, and identity monitoring, in addition to the usual antivirus protection.
But probably the most important piece of added software you'll interface with regularly is the Omen Gaming Hub. This is the centralized app that lets you control and configure the Omen Max 45L, along with supported accessories such as HyperX keyboards, mice, and headsets. You can capture system vitals, adjust performance profiles, enable the Power Supply Status Monitor (which captures data such as temperature, load, efficiency, etc.), and control lighting for the RGB fans.
In addition, the Omen Gaming Hub lets you control the LCD on the AIO unit. By default, it shows CPU and GPU temperature. But you can also allow it to show other system vitals (fan speeds, storage levels, etc.), display a static image, or even show the time (among other options). The Omen Gaming Hub even offers Omen AI, which automatically applies optimal performance settings for popular games like Fortnite , League of Legends , and Marvel Rivals .Omen Audio Control lets you adjust speaker/headphone volume, along with noise cancellation and equalizer settings.
The Omen Max 45L ships with a 1-year limited hardware warranty and one year of limited technical support.
There are four primary configurations for the Omen Max 45L, starting with a Ryzen 7 9700X, Radeon RX 9070 XT, 32GB DDR5-6000, a 1TB SSD, and an 850W modular PSU, priced at $2,544.99. You can get the basic configuration, swapping out the AMD GPU for a GeForce RTX 5070, priced at $2,534.99.
If you want more CPU horsepower under the hood, adding a Ryzen 7 9800X3D (while keeping all other specs the same) takes the price to $3,254.99.
Our system is the top-of-the-line configuration, and you pay dearly for it. Our review unit is equipped with a Ryzen 9 9900X3D, 64GB of DDR5-6000, a GeForce RTX 5090, dual 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSDs, and a 1,200W PSU for $6,499.99.
The HP Omen Max 45L is a highly capable gaming system that casts a long shadow with its towering appearance. With its Ryzen 9 9900X3D chip and RTX 5090 GPU onboard, the Omen Max 45L nearly ran the tables at 1080p. However, the 5090 is better suited for 4K gaming, and Omen Max 45L proved strong enough to lead the pack at 4K or at least remain highly competitive.
Our flagship configuration was equipped with two 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSDs, which delivered excellent data transfer speeds, and networking capabilities are plentiful with an onboard 2.5 GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 7. At the center of it all is the Omen Gaming Hub, which is your one-stop shop for RGB, performance profiles, game optimizations, and system monitoring.
It’s hard not to be impressed with the Omen Max 45L, as it excels at excess – and that is especially true of its price tag. As configured, our review unit tipped the scales at $6,499.99. The Alienware Area-51 we tested in November with similar specs (albeit with a Ryzen 9 9950X3D) cost $5,749.99. However, in this age of rising RAM and NAND costs, the same Area-51 system (with 4TB of storage to match the Omen Max 45L) will run you $6,249.99.
Either system will satiate your needs for 4K gaming, but you’re going to need a whole lot of cash to secure one.
Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-19/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Brandon Hill Social Links Navigation Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.
DingusDog Where to even start with this? $6500 for proprietary components and cooling gimmicks. Of course the "cryo chamber" will perform better than a regular top mounted rad pulling in GPU heat but it's no better than a front mounted rad. 9900X3D is just silly, 6 cores for gaming. And finally this gem: "We once again saw the Omen Max 45L punching above its weight class in the CPU-intensive Far Cry 6 ." What weight class is above a 5090+X3D CPU? Reply
Manpotpie didnt gamers nexus review this and label it the worst pre built they have ever come across? guys cmon Reply
phillip916 Manpotpie said: didnt gamers nexus review this and label it the worst pre built they have ever come across? guys cmon that video was from at least 6-months ago. I see a few responses on the video review now, from the last 1-2 weeks, from people who say they own the Omen 45L and the newest firmware fixes a lot of the problems. I'd like more solid reviews and reliable comments. Reply
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