This is the primary HP gaming monitor we've got ever reviewed and it is a special one, with a completely new spec and milestone that currently hit the market. The HP Omen X 27 is a standard 1440p show (2560 x 1440), but it pushes the refresh rate up to 240Hz for the first time. We’ve had 240Hz available on 1080p monitors for a while, but 1440p hasn’t been able to step as much as the extraordinary excessive refresh podium till now with those current panels.

It won’t be a marvel to many of you that 1440p at 240Hz calls for a TN panel. These days we do see some 1080p 240Hz panels the use of IPS and VA, but as 1080p 240Hz starts getting upgraded to higher generation, TN starts to hit 240Hz at better resolutions. This is relatively of a comeback for TN at 1440p, given the good sized majority of 1440p gaming monitors inside the past few years had been launched with both IPS or VA panels at as much as 165Hz.

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Other key specs of the HP Omen consist of its flat 27-inch display size, 1ms rated reaction instances, adaptive sync support with FreeSync 2 HDR (no VESA DisplayHDR spec) and a recommended retail rate of $650. We've visible it as little as $500, however that $650 MSRP shows this is a top rate product.

The maximum putting factor when you're taking the HP Omen X 27 out of the container is its unique design. Most display groups stick with the simple pronged metal stand with a pillar, that is useful and looks precise maximum of the time. But HP has gone with pretty their personal aesthetic, which incorporates a skinny square stand pillar connected to a heavy rectangular metal base. Personally I think this appears great.

Everything about the construct exudes top rate exceptional. The stand is completely metallic, the seams as substances transition from one component to every other are tight and properly built, plus the rear segment with its triangular sample looks wonderful even supposing it’s totally plastic. As some distance as substances go, that is honestly one of the exceptional constructed video display units I’ve seen.

While the design is extremely good, there have been some sacrifices to functionality. One is with stand adjustability: you do get top adjustment that's first-class, plus the same old tilt functionality, but due to the rectangular connection to the show there is no swivelling or pivoting abilities. So you can’t use the display a Box portrait orientation.

Ports are also restrained. You get a two-port USB hub and an clean to get admission to headphone jack, however there's just one DisplayPort and one HDMI input. That’s enough for a single PC and single console connection, but lots of different monitors these days have three or four ports, that's what we’d have liked to look right here, too.

The different trouble comes with the on-display screen controls. Not most effective can we have a reasonably chunky backside bezel – the facet bezels are fine – but we also don’t have a directional toggle or buttons alongside the bottom side. Instead, the OSD buttons are without a doubt at the rear facet, and to govern them you need to fumble and attain round the bottom bezel to locate them. It’s now not a first rate manipulate system and I frequently discovered myself pressing the wrong issue.

HP’s OSD itself is right, the menu is straightforward and consists of respectable gamer capabilities like cheat crosshairs, refresh price presentations, and controls for the single ambient lights LED on the lowest side. Perhaps one lacking characteristic is a backlight strobing mode, even though possibly no longer as essential with this type of excessive refresh rate.

Speaking of the refresh rate, permit’s communicate about the combination of 1440p and 240Hz. We're getting adaptive sync, so it works with AMD and Nvidia GPUs, plus low framerate compensation, as you’d assume from a modern-day gaming monitor. But the large soar is from a max refresh fee of 165Hz like we used to look with 1440p monitors, up to 240 Hz.

If you’re wondering you may run contemporary AAA video games at above one hundred sixty five FPS in 2019, despite a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti… assume again. While the 2080 Ti is surely a high-stop GPU, within the most traumatic titles you’re looking at among a hundred and 140 FPS the usage of Ultra settings at 1440p. That allows you to max out a 1440p 144Hz display maximum of the time, but isn’t going to make a 240 Hz show well worth it. So if you’re the type of gamer that performs titles like Borderlands three and Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, upgrading to 240Hz isn’t going to make lots feel until we've next-generation GPUs.

Where 240Hz does make sense at 1440p is with competitive video games. 1080p 240Hz has been the gold general for some time now, however at 1440p you may frequently nonetheless run these titles at notable excessive body quotes whilst benefiting from the added spatial facts from the better resolution. I find it easier to spot enemies at 1440p versus 1080p, specially a Chip: 27-inch display, and especially whilst we’re talking approximately remote enemies. Similar to why aggressive gamers often suggest low settings however ultra draw distances: seeing high pleasant shadows doesn’t rely too much, however being able to without difficulty spot enemies inside the distance does.

If you do have a high-cease rig -- we're speakme RTX 2080 Ti and Core i9-9900K -- you could frequently play video games like Rainbow Six Siege, Fortnite on medium settings, Overwatch, Rocket League… the ones styles of titles at or above 2 hundred FPS at 1440p. This is wherein a 240Hz display offers you advanced clarity and smoothness over 144Hz, and even as the difference is diffused, the extra I’ve used 240Hz over the previous few years, the greater it looks like an upgrade over 144Hz in those video games. For something speedy movement, extra Hz is higher.

Future proofing aside, having a 1440p 240Hz monitor virtually is simplest in the realm of incredible excessive-cease gaming rigs. If you don’t have a fast gaming CPU like Intel’s 8700K or 9900K, paired with a top-give up GPU just like the RTX 2080 Super or ideally the RTX 2080 Ti, as a minimum in 2019, 1440p 240Hz in all likelihood isn’t for you. In a few yr's time with any luck the necessities will drop down a chunk like 1080p 240Hz has, but for now it’s a excessive-cease aspect.

Performance

Response Times / Overdrive Modes

So how does the HP Omen X 27 perform at 1440p and 240Hz? As you possibly would expect from a TN panel, it does fare pretty properly in reaction times. There are four overdrive modes to be had, but the first – Level 1 and Level 2 – aren’t worth the usage of given they don’t get the best out of the panel. These modes aren’t horrible given reaction instances are inside the 5ms variety with minimal overshoot, but we can do higher.

Level 1 and Level 2

Level three is the most efficient mode for this reveal. Here we are getting rapid overall performance as you’d hope from TN. The overall gray to grey common is simply 3.13ms and you can tell from the visible charts that maximum transitions are extraordinarily quick at 240Hz, some as low as 1.2ms. Dark degree overall performance is very good, so there’s no smearing there both, no longer that that is unusual for a TN panel.

Level 3

The first-rate part comes with refresh rate compliance, ninety% of transitions are inside 1ms of the refresh price window, which is a tight 4.17ms whilst fresh at 240Hz. This manner that smearing isn’t an issue even at 240Hz, because the reveal is normally rapid sufficient to transition its pixels before it has to refresh the screen for the subsequent picture. What we’re left with is authentic 240 Hz overall performance and the extremely responsive, low blur experience that provides. Error charges also are excellent, no issues to speak of, you gained’t see inverse ghosting at this refresh rate.

The fastest available overdrive mode, Level 4, does push the average gray to gray transition right down to 1.77ms, however it does so at the price of high degrees of overshoot. 36% of transitions had overshoot above 15%, many transitions above 20% ,which does motive inverse ghost trails in speedy motion. This isn’t a method I’d propose.

Level 4

Level 3 is genuinely the overdrive mode to select, and this holds up properly all through the refresh charge range. Even if you’re gaming at 120Hz using adaptive sync, overall performance is still notable, at a 3.16ms common response time. Overshoot does boom the slower the refresh price is, growing from a median mistakes of three.zero% at 240Hz to 7.nine% at 60Hz, but none of these refresh quotes showcase lots inverse ghosting in order that’s why I’d set this reveal to Level 3 and neglect. Even performance at 60Hz is first-rate for console gaming.

How does the Omen X 27 stack as much as different video display units? When looking at gray to grey average we’re proper inside the quarter for TN video display units at between 2 and 4ms. The Omen X is a step up from the Viotek GFT27DB we reviewed earlier this year, that's a 1440p 144Hz screen, despite the fact that we aren’t transferring the needle an awful lot in phrases of delivering faster-than-regular reaction instances. Not that this is necessary, as TN generation has been fast enough for 240Hz refresh quotes at 1440p for a while now, it’s pretty much bringing up to speed different areas of the display just like the scaler.

We additionally see overall performance very near Gigabyte’s Aorus KD25F, one of the ultra-speedy zero.5ms class 240Hz panels at 1080p. So at least for reaction times, we’re equivalent to 1080p monitors at this refresh fee.

Dark stage performance is glaringly now not an trouble for TN video display units, that’s simplest a consideration for VA. And whilst refresh rate compliance isn’t chart topping, whatever above 70 to 80% is vert accurate. With ninety one% compliance from the Omen X 27, this is extra than sufficient for an wonderful 240Hz enjoy and also you received’t get much higher from other options.

The common error chart isn’t the maximum beneficial in our critiques, but what we do see right here is that the modern generation 1080p 240Hz panel used inside the KD25F, which has 0.5ms elegance reaction instances, is marginally faster than the 1440p 240Hz panel used. That’s because while both alternatives have 3ms response time averages, the KD25F does so at a decrease mistakes price. This doesn’t mean a whole lot in practice as in my view they offer an equal enjoy however for those that are inquisitive about panel era, it appears 1080p nevertheless has a moderate lead.

As we noted in advance, inverse ghosting is a non issue with the HP Omen X 27 at its highest quality overdrive mode, even though the headroom is absorbed at decrease refresh rates, which having growing however nevertheless manageable overshoot.

And even at 60Hz that is nonetheless a totally fast screen, with reaction instances nonetheless round that 3ms mark, that's awesome and makes the monitor awesome for adaptive sync use as we recognize ghosting remains largely unchanged during the refresh charge range.

The Omen X 27 is the quickest screen we’ve examined so far, with functionally 0 enter lag. When that’s mixed with such a high refresh fee and quick transitions, we are getting 5ms of latency between the screen receiving an input and absolutely displaying it on the display screen. That’s top notch and ends in chart topping overall performance with the aid of a first rate margin.

As for uniformity, pretty decent, small amount of falloff along the left area however apart from that, a uniform enjoy via the center location. Seems HP are the use of a very good high-quality panel, as you’d wish given its charge tag.

The HP Omen X 27 is also an HDR succesful monitor. Surprisingly it hasn’t received any DisplayHDR badges, even though it does come with FreeSync 2 HDR guide. Let’s see the way it fares within the tick list.

This is a curious display in that it gets halfway there with every of the three major pillars of HDR. For brightness, the monitor can sustain 450 nits effortlessly, however can’t push up to 600 nits. For contrast we do get a few local dimming with 16 area lit zones, however we don’t have the whole array or excessive quarter count number important for an first rate revel in. And whilst the monitor is extensive gamut capable, around 87% P3 coverage falls simply brief of the ninety% we preferably want to look at least.

Where this leaves us in exercise is an HDR experience that’s better than SDR, but most effective slightly higher, and surely nowhere close to the total HDR experience you’d get from a right HDR display. Take brightness for example, for small information along with vibrant light Box + dark scene, we do arise to 470 nits. But we don’t get the piercing one thousand+ nits of the nice HDR panels.

The absolute quality comparison ratio we can reap inside the HDR mode is round 6,000:1 with the Omen X, which admittedly is more than 6x better than the panel’s default SDR evaluation with out nearby dimming. But that’s not that surprising towards even semi-HDR monitors like the LG 32UL650 with DisplayHDR six hundred certification. And in our unmarried-frame assessment tests, once more the Omen X falls in the back of the % due to its low region rely.

I wouldn’t completely rule out the use of the HDR mode because it does provide a minor gain over SDR and the big nearby dimming zones aren’t too noticeable in the course of ordinary gaming utilization. But the HDR enjoy isn’t as correct as true HDR video display units, that are an awful lot greater highly-priced. We just don’t assume TN is a superb generation for HDR.

But allow’s overlook about HDR performance because we don’t think you’ll be shopping for the Omen X 27 for that characteristic. What you’ll be interested in is the combination of a 1440p resolutiChip: AMDnd 240 Hz refresh charge. That’s the famous person of the show and it’s constantly exciting and thrilling to test those styles of new panels with new technology.

Bottom Line

The HP Omen X 27 is a brilliant gaming screen. There are some issues introduced about from the use of a TN panel, but it's nothing unusual for this panel kind and the entirety else is first rate. Response instances are rapid enough to keep up with the 240 Hz refresh rate with a bit of room to spare, so even though we are getting an boom to resolution over older 1080p 240Hz video display units, not anything has changed as some distance as overall performance is worried. This is a simply quick monitor that offers a pinnacle-magnificence, quite responsive gaming experience.

HP has also introduced terrific adaptive sync help which includes tight response instances in the course of the refresh range, plus without a doubt 0 enter lag. This is one of the fastest and most responsive monitors we’ve ever examined, that's specially interesting given we’re getting this with a higher decision than simply 1080p.

Color performance could be very sturdy from the factory, fairly so for a gaming screen that doesn’t boast approximately manufacturing unit calibratiAMD Ryzennywhere on ths spec sheet. A few minor oversaturation issues can without problems be corrected with a software program profile but even if you don’t use a profile, this display has exceptional colorings.

Most of the downsides are wellknown TN stuff. Poor viewing angles and a vulnerable evaluation ratio are standard and the important thing tradeoff for elite overall performance. If you sport + Core dark room, the higher than average black ranges may also annoy you. And while we definitely love the layout and build excellent, there are some annoyances there, too, like a hard to apply on-display screen menu.

But most of those problems surely aren’t that good sized, in case you need absolutely the fastest 1440p monitor available on the market, there are a few tradeoffs to be made. My bigger problem is extra to do with the price and whether you should buy a 1440p 240Hz monitor at all.

The suitable news is that the HP Omen X 27 is tons inexpensive than their most effective other competitor with the equal specs, the Lenovo Legion Y27gq-25. Lenovo’s supplying is an eye watering $1,000, although it normally sells for $900. With the Omen X 27 priced at $650, why you will spend the extra money?

However as some distance as 1440p shows pass, $650 remains expensive. This is simply some thing for extremely high-cease gamers that already have a nicely prepared rig with a Core i9-9900K and RTX 2080 Ti due to the fact realistically, that’s the form of hardware you need to power video games at this resoluti5 2500Und body price.

Most other humans will be higher off with LG’s 27GL850 in case your hardware can’t max out a 1440p 144Hz display. It’s nonetheless a lightning short display in phrases of reaction instances and input lag, but it has better viewing angles and a wider shade gamut than the HP Omen X 27 thanks to LG's Nano IPS era. It’s also $150 cheaper comparing normal retail charges, which at $500 for the 27GL850 we assume is justifiable for a high-stop 1440p excessive refresh display.

Don’t get us wrong, the HP Omen X 27 is a really top notch display that offers excellent overall performance, it’s simply one of these more area of interest offerings for a notable high-cease audience. There is truly an area for it within the marketplace and we adore to see new panel tech like this, but before you run out and buy one, take a look at the relaxation of your PC's hardware and determine what is maximum appropriate for you.

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