Many gamers may not be fully aware, but HP isn’t just making printers and productivity-focused PCs — the company also maintains a significant presence in the gaming industry.
HP’s OMEN and HyperX brands have continued to grow in scale and ambition, and have also increasingly separated themselves from HP’s more mundane consumer efforts. Case in point, the dedicated event at which HP announced a slew of new gaming hardware and accessories.
I was invited to attend this unique event by HP, and arrived early to go hands-on with the brand-new HP OMEN PCs and HyperX audio gear. I came away impressed and intrigued, especially by the beastly OMEN MAX 45L gaming desktop that pulls out all the stops.
Gaming to the MAX with a new flagship desktop
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The HP OMEN 45L is dead; long live the HP OMEN MAX 45L, the most absurdly powerful pre-built desktop PC to ever come out of HP’s laboratories.
On the inside, you’ll find some insane hardware… but not entirely unfamiliar. The OMEN MAX 45L is powered by the latest from AMD and NVIDIA, up to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and GeForce RTX 5090, to be exact. You can also get crazy amounts of RAM and plenty of PCIe Gen5 SSD storage, but none of that is what makes the OMEN MAX 45L special.
Much of that you can also find in the refreshed HP OMEN 35L (which I’ll talk more about later), but this desktop’s overwhelming presence is due to its unique cooling solution. HP’s “CRYO CHAMBER” brand has returned, but you haven’t seen it like this, yet.
The OMEN MAX 45L and its unique cooling system certainly look odd in person, but it’s a small price to pay for zero limits.
I’ll admit, the OMEN MAX 45L does look odd in person. It’s like a normal gaming desktop wearing a hat, but it’s all for a purpose. Different paths for airflow and improved use of ambient air result in substantially improved thermals, and in turn allow users to truly max out this PC’s hardware.
HP has already impressed me with the depth and granularity of its overclocking and power management features with recent OMEN hardware, but the OMEN MAX 45L goes a step further by letting you overclock the memory, CPU, and GPU — and HP was very excited to tell me there are no artificial limitations here. You can really push this hardware to the max.
It’s this promise of truly “extreme” performance thanks to the OMEN MAX 45L’s overclocking capabilities that presumably justifies its position at the top, but I’ll have to test it for myself to see if it really earns that distinction.
Leaving behind the RGB and flying under the radar
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The biggest surprise of HP’s event, though, was how much I really loved the new “Stealth Edition” OMEN 35L. The OMEN 35L hasn’t changed much since I reviewed it, apart from a spec bump to the latest AMD and NVIDIA internals, but this version takes the same hardware and slots it into a sleek, nondescript, matte black case devoid of RGB lighting and bold glass.
I was a fan when I covered the product’s announcement, but this desktop looks even better in person. It’s clean, and it makes a lot of sense why Riot Games chose this specific computer as the standard for its VALORANT esports league.
I love RGB lighting as much as the next gamer, but there’s also a depressing lack of “sleeper” hardware that HP is filling here — and the positive reception has apparently already been immense.
I don’t expect this OMEN 35L to be a drastic departure from last year (apart from slightly improved performance and hopefully more stable software), but I am very interested to check out the Stealth Edition.
A different approach to AMD and Intel laptops?
One of the more interesting things I learned during this HP event is how the company is approaching AMD and Intel SKUs for its OMEN gaming laptops. I recently reviewed the flagship HP OMEN MAX 16 (2025) and liked it well enough, and now it’s getting an AMD variant — with a twist.
The original OMEN MAX 16 is powered by Intel Core Ultra HX-series CPUs, Intel’s most powerful mobile chipsets. The downside is that the integrated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) isn’t powerful enough to enable full Copilot+ PC status, making them lesser AI PCs in an increasingly AI-driven world.
Intel and AMD both offer high-performance mobile chipsets, but HP opted for AMD’s more balanced (and efficient) Ryzen AI chips instead.
Instead of using the AMD equivalent, like what’s found in the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025) I reviewed, the new OMEN MAX 16 is actually powered by AMD Ryzen AI chipsets. That means less raw power, but far greater efficiency and a whole lot more smarts for artificial intelligence features.
HP told me it’s because it found people want that choice, and many value battery life enough to trade some CPU performance for it. I’d certainly make that choice, so I’m all for HP’s slightly more unique approach here. The standard, mid-range HP OMEN 16 is getting the same AMD/Intel treatment, too.
Leveling up your audio with new HyperX accessories
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HyperX joined the fun during this Level Reforge event, too, showing off two new wireless gaming headsets and two new microphones. I got to check them all out to varying degrees, and I think this is an exciting lineup for a few reasons.
Possibly the most interesting of the bunch to me personally is the HyperX Cloud Flight 2, a new multi-platform, mid-range headset. It’s ultra-light and made of plastic, so it’s not the most premium feeling, but HyperX is doing some interesting things here.
All the basics are covered — angled 50mm drivers, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless connectivity, an Xbox-specific version with added features (like a built-in chat mixer), up to 125 hours of battery life, an upgraded 10mm boom microphone, and more.
I’m interested to see if HyperX really takes advantage of the more modular design of the Flight 2 headset.
On top of that, though, HyperX designed the headband cushion, earcup cushions, and magnetic faceplates to all be easily removable and replaceable. More than that, the headset’s RGB lighting actually covers the entire area underneath those faceplates, allowing light to shine in through cutouts; that opens a lot of possibilities for customizing your headset, and HyperX is looking into expanding those options for consumers.
There’s even an internal microphone so that you can continue to do voice calls without the awkward boom microphone attached, which a lot of headsets that claim to double up as wireless headphones lack.
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I also tried out HyperX’s new flagship Alpha 2 wireless headset, which immediately feels extremely polished and premium with its understated, RGB-less, metal-infused design. It’s sleek and comfy, the audio sounded excellent in my limited testing, and HyperX is promising a ridiculous 250-hour battery life.
That headset will be going up against the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro I reviewed, though, so the performance will have to be top-notch to justify its higher price tag of $299.99 at HP.com.
I did check out both of the new HyperX microphones, too, although I wasn’t really able to test them. The premium FlipCast for $229.99 at HP.com could be a fantastic option for those who want to get into content creation of any kind but aren’t quite ready to invest in a full (often expensive) XLR-based setup; the FlipCast also boasts USB input for casual plug-and-play, as well as a smart and attractive design with a dynamic LED meter.
I actually have the HyperX FlipCast in to review, so you can expect my in-depth thoughts on it in the coming weeks. I don’t have the SoloCast 2 yet, but I am excited to eventually check it out. This is HyperX’s most affordable USB microphone, and it looks like it’ll be a direct competitor to the AVerMedia VERSATI go (AM310G2) I reviewed and loved.
It’ll be interesting to see if the SoloCast 2, which costs $59.99 at HP.com, can offer the same level of quality and features as that microphone.
A fun and creative way to show off new products
I do want to spare a moment to talk about the event itself, because this wasn’t your normal tech briefing. HP got a bunch of well-known Twitch streamers and content creators together in a game-show format, with the goal being to “reforge” a broken blade by excelling at a variety of mini-games.
Beyond the awkward, forced jokes of the beginning, this event was actually really enjoyable to watch. The games were fun, and the synergy between teams and the excellent hosts led to some hilarious moments.
In between event beats, HP announced its new products with flashy commercials and casual interviews between obviously passionate (and often nervous) nerds, which made the products feel like they were truly made for gamers, by gamers.
I’m excited to see Level Reforge return in the future, but in the meantime I’ll be looking forward to testing out the new HP OMEN and HyperX gaming gear.
HP seemed very pleased about the reception to the event, too, as this was the first time the company has ever attempted something like this. I and many others had plenty of feedback to give for future iterations, and it does seem like we can expect Level Reforge to return next year.
I always appreciate engaging with a company that actively seeks out criticism, too, and I chatted with various HP OMEN and HyperX leads and engineers on new and existing hardware.
For example, one of the demo areas used the HP OMEN Transcend 32 OLED monitor I reviewed, but had been afflicted with a dreaded forced pixel refresh. I had an open and shockingly productive conversation with a member of that team about my review and all my criticisms for what is genuinely a great monitor, and it reassured me that future HP OMEN monitors will actually be better because of feedback from actual users.
Thank you, HP, for inviting me out to Level Reforge. I had more fun than I honestly expected I would. As for what comes next, stay tuned to Windows Central for my reviews of the new HP OMEN and HyperX gear!
