HP Omen Obelisk Review –

Attractive compact construction. Tasteful visual design. Effortless interior access without tools. Capable of 1440p 60fps high frame rate 4K gaming. Other models cover a range of prices.

Cons

Less expensive competitors outperform or equal performance Large fans at full load.

Bottom line

The Obel Obelisk from HP is a compact gaming PC with a sleek design and superior performance. However, this Core i9 loadout is expensive, and competitors have a speed advantage. Consider another one of your less costly setups.

HP’s Obel Obelisk is a compact enthusiast desktop. Our test configuration is the top-tier model, capable of an Intel Core i9-9900K CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics, 64GB of memory, and plenty of storage. Unsurprisingly, it’s more than ready to play at 1440p at high refresh rates, and it can even hit 4K games at 60fps. We like its solid size and most of the design, although the fans are loud. While undeniably fast, other desktops we’ve tested with the same core parts have performed better, and those with non-Ti GeForce RTX 2080 GPUs came closer than we expected.

Good Omen: a compact and clean design

The Obelisk is impressive at first glance, partially only because of its size. While shaped like a standard desktop tower, its MicroATX build keeps the overall volume low, measuring just 17.1 by 6.5 by 14.1 inches (HWD). That height isn’t particularly noticeable, but it’s a compact case as a whole because it’s slim and not very deep. This relatively small trace is a valuable space saver if you want to place it on your desk or have limited floor space for a tower. An earlier edition of the Obel Obelisk that we reviewed earlier this year used the same building, with different components. By contrast, the Maingear Vybe, which is not particularly large, measures slightly larger at around 18.6 by 8.6 by 17.9 inches.

Stylistically speaking, the Obelisk’s chassis is as tame as it is attractive enough to recommend it. A full-length tempered glass window makes up the left panel, through which you can see beautiful LED lighting inside, and Omen’s only trademark is a moderately sized logo on the front panel. This model keeps it simple in a grouping that often goes over the top but with enough charisma to avoid being boring.

Interior access couldn’t be easier.

A release button on the back of the case unlocks the windowed side panel, allowing you to release it without much effort. The interior is not visually spectacular, but it is immaculate and organized. Cables disappear behind the motherboard in the shortest time possible, with no leftover cables hanging free. Cable work is tight and neat, and the clean interior makes it easy to maintain or change parts down the line, as nothing obstructs access to the motherboard.

What parts, exactly, are packed in this case? It’s very much a high-end affair, despite the compact size. Along with it is 64GB of memory, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, two 512GB NVMe M.2 SSDs. And a 2TB hard drive, all powered by a 750-watt power supply. A liquid cooler is installed for the CPU, flaunting some red tubes. With the single-fan radiator bolted to the top panel. These are all top-notch parts, even overkill for many games (CPU and RAM in particular). With lots of high-speed storage and an even larger scratch drive.

Configurations

As for other configurations, HP offers many less expensive models to choose from. Virtually every component in our setup is downgraded in power or capacity, starting with the entry-level model. You get a Core i5-8400 CPU or an AMD Ryzen 5 2500X, 8GB of memory, a GeForce GTX 1660 GPU, a hard drive. of 1TB and a power supply of 500 watts. (All models except our top-ender use this power supply power.) It also does not have a glass window, with both sides in metal.

From there, you can configure a wide range of builds. You can’t mix and match all of these with each other. Still, other options include a Ryzen 7 2700 CPU. As well as multiple Core i5 and Core i7 chips, Nvidia graphics cards at every stop between the GTX 1660 and RTX 2080 Ti, memory. Which scales from 8GB to 64GB and many drive combinations (including large HDD and SSD capacities). In general, there are options for almost any type of budget and need.