Magnum Omen: An OMEN 30L rebuilt and modified to the point that just the case (most of it) and some fans remain. Everything else is on the open test bench or gone for good.

I've been on a bit of a journey with this PC. Always a laptop user before I bought my first gaming PC. It was the OMEN 30L with:
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (air cooled), 2x 16GB DDR4 3200 Kingston Fury, 3070Ti 8GB OEM, 500GB M.2 Gen4, 1TB HDD, and a pitiful 600W Cooler Master PSU.

Almost immediately after purchasing, the thing would shutdown under load and determined that the PSU was not providing enough juice. So the first change was swapping that for an Antec HCG 80+ Gold PSU. Job was a good one as the system could stay running indefinitely through power hungry tasks.

A little later down the line, I removed the HDD and M.2, replacing each of them with a Samsung 990 Pro 4TB, the OS drive being the heatsinked version and the other without. About the same time, I took the plunge and forked out for the 3090Ti Founders Edition which was around about the time the 40 series was becoming the standard choice. Even so, it remains by far the most expensive single purchase for this build. I don't regret it one bit. The first bit of cutting to the case with a Dremel happened here to remove part of the HDD cage to fit the GPU. I toyed with the idea of just buying a bigger case (Antec Boitier) but I've decided to cross that bridge later down the line with a fresh E-ATX build.

The OMEN CPU air cooler was replaced with an OMEN AIO which was more for aesthetics than anything else. Performance-wise, it didn't make much difference. The RAM changed for 4x 16GB non-RGB modules of the same brand and type. At the time, this was probably the best this system looked and for some time I'd just stare at it.

Then, later on, I opted to replace the PSU again, worrying that the GPU coupled with a new CPU, the Ryzen 9 5950X, could in an extreme situation not be enough. Ironically, that has failed (today) before I came to write this, and I'm back to using the HCG 850W unit without issue until I replace it.

Some HP proprietary, TPM, and OS issues later... I decide to ditch the OMEN board entirely despite having an identical spare. This was the most recent round of changes to this build. At this point, it's no longer an HP system, although the OMEN design language has been retained somewhat. The original fans are still in use, just more of them have been fitted. It's not quiet, but I don't really care. A lot more work was done to the case to allow these to all fit. The top was also cut to allow the radiator of a new Kraken 240 AIO to sit on top of the case, rather than hang inside it. The idea is sort of taken from the OMEN 45L Cryochamber arrangement but the airflow is still pulled from the main chamber.

The new board is an MSI Mortar B550 but without Wi-Fi (this was an oversight). Has the 5950X and 3090Ti on there and I treated myself to couple of sticks of 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Royal Elites (4000MHZ CL18). I realised after receiving these that I could've bought a quad pack for better value but still... these cost as much as the CPU and that's saying something. 64GB will do for now, I can double it later if needed.

The setup does need a bit of visual refinement which will happen with time. The missing glass panel is due to be cut at a local business so the GPU cables can be kept free while the rest of the case is closed up with proper airflow again. An RGB bar hidden across the top of the case I would like to get working again, and only does so if an additional drive is added to the SATA chain, which is weird. A few fan grills to go in as well. This thing does regularly need cleaning. I have some replacement bolts for the front fans, and mesh plates for those and the radiator for the AIO.

At the moment, dead PSU aside, the only issue that crops up occasionally is the CAM software for the Kraken AIO doesn't always kick in when it should. It has caused shaky start-ups, especially first after the most recent rebuild. It happens less frequently now, but it remains unresolved.

I have enjoy this journey so far, and it's massively expanded my knowledge from before when all I could was speed up laptops with RAM and SSDs. The PC building adventure has taught me a lot. I don't mind the jankiness of this at the moment, it is still a work in progress. When funds allow, my next build needs to be E-ATX with a Threadripper CPU and I hope it to be my ultimate and proudest build. My 3D work especially is crying out for it. But for now, this is all doing nicely.

Thank you for visiting. Let me know what you think. Share your experiences with HP OMEN, or pre-builts that you made your own.