I’ve got another Ryzen based gaming laptop for testing, the highly requested HP Omen 15 - but just how well does it actually perform in games? I’ve tested 20 different titles at all setting levels and also compared it against other laptops to show you how it stacks up. 
My configuration has AMD’s 8 core Ryzen 7 4800H processor with Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti graphics and 16gb of memory in dual channel, so some nice hardware for a gaming laptop.
The Omen Command Center software lets you select between different performance modes, I’ve used performance mode which is the highest along with max fan speed for best results.
Unfortunately there’s no option of disabling optimus and only using the discrete Nvidia graphics, which also means there’s no option of G-Sync here without an external screen. We’ll only be covering gaming performance in this review.
Let's start out by going through all 20 games at all setting levels, then afterwards we’ll see how other laptops compare. 
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested using the game’s built in benchmark tool, max settings only really sees decent FPS with higher tier hardware, and medium settings is needed to hit above 60 FPS. 
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode, it was playing alright at ultra settings and still above 60 FPS, while medium was just able to push us up to 100 FPS with a 60 FPS 1% low result.
Control was tested without RTX enabled, as RTX performs poorly on GTX graphics so there’s not much point testing it. Medium settings was running above 60 FPS, while low settings was above 100, and for the most part I think it still looks pretty good even at low anyway. 
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were pretty similar to many other GTX 1660 Ti laptops tested, but we’ll compare the Omen with other laptops in this game and others soon. 
Apex Legends was tested with either all settings at maximum, or all settings on the lowest possible values, as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets. It was still running at 100 FPS with max settings, and then even the 1% low was above this with all settings at minimum. 
Call of Duty Modern Warfare was tested in campaign mode with either max or min settings for the same reason, and although the difference isn’t as big compared to Apex, I still found it to play fine maxed out which was near 60 FPS for even the 1% low.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, it was running without any issues at max settings with a 100 FPS average, while medium would push the 1% low closer to the refresh rate of the display with a 200 FPS average. 
CS:GO was tested with the ulletical FPS benchmark, and while the results were absolutely fine, we could have received some big gains if HP gave us the option to disable optimus. 
Dota 2 was similar to most other laptops of similar spec levels, again no issues running it at all so let’s move on. 
Overwatch is another less demanding game and was tested in the practice range, it was running fine at max settings with an average frame rate near the refresh rate of the screen, while ultra was still getting 1% lows above the screens refresh rate. 
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark using Vulkan, the average FPS at max settings was above the screens refresh rate, and there wasn’t that much difference between the top few presets.
Metro Exodus was tested using the built in benchmark, most parts of the game perform a fair bit better than this, so don’t take these results as a good indication of what to expect throughout the entire game, it’s more of a worst case that can be compared against my other data. 
The Division 2 was also tested with the built in benchmark. Ultra settings was right on 60 FPS average, while low settings was more than double this amount. 
Monster Hunter World was tested running through the main town, and it was playable at max settings, again around 60 FPS for the averages, but interestingly the 1% low wasn’t very far behind, so quite a stable experience.
Borderlands 3 was tested using the game’s built in benchmark, high settings were needed to hit 60 FPS, but medium was higher than this for the 1% low, quite a big difference between those two levels compared to the others. 
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was also tested with the benchmark tool, and ultra settings was still above 60 FPS in this one with a bit better possible with the lower levels. 
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is another that was tested with the games benchmark, and 60 FPS was possible here with the very high preset, and like some others the 1% low with very high was above even the average FPS at max.
Far Cry New Dawn was also tested with the games benchmark, the results weren’t really that different when compared to many other similarly specced laptops tested and ultra it isn’t too far off 60 FPS for the 1% low. 
The Witcher 3 was playable at ultra settings, even above 60 FPS for the 1% low, though there was a nice gain at high settings where even the 1% low was above the averages at ultra. 
F1 2019 was tested with the benchmark tool and sees similar behaviour, still above 100 FPS at max settings, but the 1% low was higher than this by just stepping down one setting level.
Now let’s take a look at how the Ryzen based HP Omen 15 with compares against other laptops, use these results as a rough guide only, as they were tested at different times with different drivers.
In Battlefield 5 I’ve got the Omen 15 highlighted in red.
The average frame rate is similar to a lot of other 1660 Ti laptops I’ve tested, though a little behind some others but only by a couple frames. The 1% low seems to be a bit lower on the Ryzen based laptops in this game, the i7 options in the vapor 15 aka mag-15 and helios 300 for instance see a fair improvement in this regard.
These are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark. 
The average FPS is similar when compared to the other 1660 Ti based laptops that I’ve tested, however in this more processor heavy test the 1% low performance was better than the all alternatives with the exception of the undervolted Helios 300. The Helios was also a fair bit ahead in average FPS now, at least compared to the last game. 
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was also tested with the games benchmark tool with the highest setting preset, and as a GPU heavy test it’s not surprising that we’ve got a few other 1660 Ti laptops performing similarly, 74 FPS was the highest result recorded from a 1660 Ti and the Omen 15 was able to hit this too.
Based on these results, it would appear that in general the Intel counterparts typically have an advantage in games when paired with the same Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti graphics. This is something that Hardware Unboxed also noted in a recent 4800H vs 10750H comparison video.
Regardless, the Omen 15 is still performing well and the difference between Intel and AMD processors in games isn’t that big, plus in heavy multicore workloads the Ryzen chip will have the advantage. We’re still seeing nice gaming performance here, this thing is definitely capable of playing basically any game with good settings, well maybe the new flight simulator would give it a run for its money.
Here are the screen response time results for the 1080p 144Hz screen in my unit. 
The average grey-to-grey response time was just below 8ms. 
When we look at how it stacks up against other 144Hz gaming laptops, it’s similar to many others like the Lenovo 7i or MSI GE66, not as great as some others, but at the same time no where near as bad as what we get in the ASUS TUF A15 or Dell G5 SE.
Let me know what you thought of the gaming performance from the HP Omen 15 gaming laptop down in the comments.
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