HP Omen Obelisk Re-case - First Build

[Jules MK]

My first attempt at a build (sort of!)
I was looking at water cooling an HP Omen Obelisk 875-0xxx but after much research I discovered the motherboard has to come out to achieve this so I decided to just swapped the HP Omen in to a Corsair Carbide Series 275R Mid-Tower ATX Gaming Case (£60 ish on Amazon) using the stock motherboard, PSU etc. I added a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Air Cooling System (£27 ish new on Amazon).  All for about the same cost as a decent 240mm AIO water cooling system,  It now has 3 intake and 2 exhaust 120mm fans (had added a couple of extra fans to the Omen before), there are no additional fan headers so I have had to use splitter cables.

I chose the Corsair as the configuration of 2 x USB 3, power and audio sockets on the top of the case was as close to the HP Omen as I could find. Only the reset button on the case is redundant. I also fitted the Omen light board i'm not sure it needed it but it was fun to fit. 

The hardest bit was removing the CPU cooler back plate as HP glue it to the motherboard. Just took my time and gently prised it off with a butter knife!

Before the CPU would hit mid 90's playing Warzone for 25 minutes, since the case swap it sits at 73 max.  

I have included a before picture, the books were there to aid airflow from underneath.
Question is what do I do to it next????

[JayBenny]

Hey there, build looks great in the new case. I definitely plan on ordering it now. I actually have a few questions concerning the build. 

 

Is the rear exhaust fan the stock fan that your obelisk came with?

 

How difficult was it to install the light panel? (I'm not too crazy about the RGB lighting in there, but I figure if it's easy then why not)

 

This is the fan splitter I purchased on amazon. Will this suffice?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FNQC63R/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07FNQC63R&linkCode=as2&tag=montanezc1-20&linkId=e11bb8f169922744aa6be7b6934e9a63

 

I just bought a cooler master master liquid lite 120. Think I'll have any problems installing it into this case?

 

Again, great transfer! I know with the previous case the airflow definitely isn't the best, and I figure since I have to take the MB out in order to install the cooler, why not get a new case, lol. Thanks for your time!

[thrasher_565]

On 8/11/2020 at 12:11 PM, Jules MK said:

My first attempt at a build (sort of!)
I was looking at water cooling an HP Omen Obelisk 875-0xxx but after much research I discovered the motherboard has to come out to achieve this so I decided to just swapped the HP Omen in to a Corsair Carbide Series 275R Mid-Tower ATX Gaming Case (£60 ish on Amazon) using the stock motherboard, PSU etc. I added a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Air Cooling System (£27 ish new on Amazon).  All for about the same cost as a decent 240mm AIO water cooling system,  It now has 3 intake and 2 exhaust 120mm fans (had added a couple of extra fans to the Omen before), there are no additional fan headers so I have had to use splitter cables.

I chose the Corsair as the configuration of 2 x USB 3, power and audio sockets on the top of the case was as close to the HP Omen as I could find. Only the reset button on the case is redundant. I also fitted the Omen light board i'm not sure it needed it but it was fun to fit. 

The hardest bit was removing the CPU cooler back plate as HP glue it to the motherboard. Just took my time and gently prised it off with a butter knife!

Before the CPU would hit mid 90's playing Warzone for 25 minutes, since the case swap it sits at 73 max.  

I have included a before picture, the books were there to aid airflow from underneath.
Question is what do I do to it next????

the biggest improvement was the heat sink. i bet you would get 71 in the old case with the new heat sink but anyway still looks good.

[Deuteronomy93]

This isn't me trying to shit on the post, but I don't see the point of the changes aside from the heatsink.

 

It sounds like you're relatively new to this (which is completely fine), but if you're not sure how best to proceed it would be better to ask for help before starting as the community can help you out really well.

 

Here's my feedback, hopefully it can help moving forwards!

• Just to start, particularly when asking for help, more pictures are better.
  • Fine to have the lights off to show the visuals of how it looks when using it, but more light in other photos will help to critique it. 
• I don't understand what you mean by "the motherboard has to come out", this would be the case in any upgrade/what you've done by moving it to a new case?
• What made you want to move to a new case/choose this one?
  • The new case isn't exactly a good option for watercooling, here are some examples of why, which can again hopefully help you.
    • The top fan mounts offer very little clearance between whatever you're putting there and the mobo.
      • You can see this by how close the mobo+212 are to the fan.
      • Putting a radiator here therefore isn't really a good option for custom nor AIO.
    • The front fans are ok, but again not great for watercooling.
      • The lowest fan is split between the PSU shroud and the main case, installing radiators here can be an option with modding (maybe without) but again goes to show that this isn't great for watercooling as you will need to really check which will work.
      • Putting a custom loop radiator here may work, but AIOs (depending on tube length) may actually suffer due to being too taut/not even reach.
        • When I started I had this issue with the Corsair Air 540 and did push/pull to actually give it some additional space to reach. You could do this with a 120/240 rad but not a 360 without modding.
  • The cable management seems ok-ish for the case, but watercooling means more components and this may look like a mess if you go ahead with it.
    • There seems to be very little room behind the mobo tray.
• Hyper 212 evo, very good choice! This is often people's first upgrade before getting into AIOs and beyond.
• In terms of what to do next, this is the question..
  • What would your budget be?
  • What is your focus?
    • Gaming
    • Productivity, in which case what kind/programs?
    • Etc
  • List out all your parts and as much detail as possible, people like to see everything even down to the CL of the RAM.
    • This can be difficult with your mobo as it might be OMEN specific, but again details will help.
  • Once you've listed these things, it will be much easier for people to advise next steps etc!
    • My impression is that people who want to watercool will often try to start out with getting mid-high end parts and then follow up with the watercooling equipment.
    • In your case (and this is subjective from me based on looks as I don't know the parts), I wouldn't watercool any of this.
      • The mobo is low spec based on the original cooler, 2 DIMM slots etc.
      • The GPU heatsink looks very slim, this tends to be indicative of a low tier card.
      • The case, as above.
    • For me, sound is a real factor, as are the longevity of parts.
      • I would get another 2 fans (including splitters as you said you need these).
      • Populate the 2 remaining areas on top
      • Reduce the fan curve of all fans
      • If you want to watercool, you will definitely be able to reuse the fans.
    • Next, depending on if gaming is your main focus, get a new GPU sometime in November or later which will hopefully mean:
      • More stock of 30 series cards
      • More people reselling 10/20 series cards
      • Big Navi will be out
    • If your PSU is from OMEN, I'd imagine it probably isn't great, upgrading this first (if it can't handle higher wattage cards) is a must and will help the system, energy bills and noise straight away.
    • Next would be the CPU+MOBO or the RAM.
      • RAM will often be able to be used in lower end systems and high end systems with you being able to lower speeds to make it work out for you sooner.
      • Your RAM is a good brand but may be worth upgrading depending on capacity, frequency and latency.
      • If this is enough for now, you may be able to just get another 2 sticks of the same spec with a new mobo.
    • Typically people upgrade MOBOs and CPUs at the same time as inter-generational compatibility is pretty bad (better with Ryzen).
    • That CPU cooler looks like Intel (I could be wrong) so it may be quite a factor for you.
      • I'd go with a midrange AMD option as this will put you in a very good spot.
    • If you don't have much money to spare (though watercooling takes a decent amount to do so I'm guessing you have options?) then the used parts market is going to be very good soon and you could get a slightly older but very good performing system for not a lot of money.
    • Once you have a system which is good enough to be watercooled, now's the time, do you research on what brands you like, budget etc.
      • I saved a decent amount on money with Bykski radiators (I'm British but living in China) which are cheap to buy, even cheaper here but not great.
        • 2 of the radiators are just so thick that the relatively worse performance is fine.

[JayBenny]

11 hours ago, Deuteronomy93 said:

This isn't me trying to shit on the post, but I don't see the point of the changes aside from the heatsink.

 

It sounds like you're relatively new to this (which is completely fine), but if you're not sure how best to proceed it would be better to ask for help before starting as the community can help you out really well.

 

Here's my feedback, hopefully it can help moving forwards!

• Just to start, particularly when asking for help, more pictures are better.
  • Fine to have the lights off to show the visuals of how it looks when using it, but more light in other photos will help to critique it. 
• I don't understand what you mean by "the motherboard has to come out", this would be the case in any upgrade/what you've done by moving it to a new case?
• What made you want to move to a new case/choose this one?
  • The new case isn't exactly a good option for watercooling, here are some examples of why, which can again hopefully help you.
    • The top fan mounts offer very little clearance between whatever you're putting there and the mobo.
      • You can see this by how close the mobo+212 are to the fan.
      • Putting a radiator here therefore isn't really a good option for custom nor AIO.
    • The front fans are ok, but again not great for watercooling.
      • The lowest fan is split between the PSU shroud and the main case, installing radiators here can be an option with modding (maybe without) but again goes to show that this isn't great for watercooling as you will need to really check which will work.
      • Putting a custom loop radiator here may work, but AIOs (depending on tube length) may actually suffer due to being too taut/not even reach.
        • When I started I had this issue with the Corsair Air 540 and did push/pull to actually give it some additional space to reach. You could do this with a 120/240 rad but not a 360 without modding.
  • The cable management seems ok-ish for the case, but watercooling means more components and this may look like a mess if you go ahead with it.
    • There seems to be very little room behind the mobo tray.
• Hyper 212 evo, very good choice! This is often people's first upgrade before getting into AIOs and beyond.
• In terms of what to do next, this is the question..
  • What would your budget be?
  • What is your focus?
    • Gaming
    • Productivity, in which case what kind/programs?
    • Etc
  • List out all your parts and as much detail as possible, people like to see everything even down to the CL of the RAM.
    • This can be difficult with your mobo as it might be OMEN specific, but again details will help.
  • Once you've listed these things, it will be much easier for people to advise next steps etc!
    • My impression is that people who want to watercool will often try to start out with getting mid-high end parts and then follow up with the watercooling equipment.
    • In your case (and this is subjective from me based on looks as I don't know the parts), I wouldn't watercool any of this.
      • The mobo is low spec based on the original cooler, 2 DIMM slots etc.
      • The GPU heatsink looks very slim, this tends to be indicative of a low tier card.
      • The case, as above.
    • For me, sound is a real factor, as are the longevity of parts.
      • I would get another 2 fans (including splitters as you said you need these).
      • Populate the 2 remaining areas on top
      • Reduce the fan curve of all fans
      • If you want to watercool, you will definitely be able to reuse the fans.
    • Next, depending on if gaming is your main focus, get a new GPU sometime in November or later which will hopefully mean:
      • More stock of 30 series cards
      • More people reselling 10/20 series cards
      • Big Navi will be out
    • If your PSU is from OMEN, I'd imagine it probably isn't great, upgrading this first (if it can't handle higher wattage cards) is a must and will help the system, energy bills and noise straight away.
    • Next would be the CPU+MOBO or the RAM.
      • RAM will often be able to be used in lower end systems and high end systems with you being able to lower speeds to make it work out for you sooner.
      • Your RAM is a good brand but may be worth upgrading depending on capacity, frequency and latency.
      • If this is enough for now, you may be able to just get another 2 sticks of the same spec with a new mobo.
    • Typically people upgrade MOBOs and CPUs at the same time as inter-generational compatibility is pretty bad (better with Ryzen).
    • That CPU cooler looks like Intel (I could be wrong) so it may be quite a factor for you.
      • I'd go with a midrange AMD option as this will put you in a very good spot.
    • If you don't have much money to spare (though watercooling takes a decent amount to do so I'm guessing you have options?) then the used parts market is going to be very good soon and you could get a slightly older but very good performing system for not a lot of money.
    • Once you have a system which is good enough to be watercooled, now's the time, do you research on what brands you like, budget etc.
      • I saved a decent amount on money with Bykski radiators (I'm British but living in China) which are cheap to buy, even cheaper here but not great.
        • 2 of the radiators are just so thick that the relatively worse performance is fine.

 

 

I just re-read what you wrote about needing to remove the mobo in order to upgrade anything. I'm not sure if in other computer cases it's possible to expose the back of the mobo by removing the panel behind it, but if that's the case then the next few paragraphs would answer the question about having to remove the mobo. If that isn't the case then disregard the first few paragraphs. 

 

Not sure how committed you are to helping me/us (I know this might be real time consuming) but I really appreciate it! Since it may have gotten lost in the post, I'll post my question here:

 

Not sure if I should return my liquid cooler and get the air cooler that OP bought. Also not sure if I should use the case that OP is using because it has better airflow and would be easier to install upgrades in the future due to the difficulty the case gives.  

 

Hey, so I actually have the hp omen as well. Just to answer your question about removing the mobo:

 

TLDR for upcoming paragraph: Removing the mobo is necessary for access to the back of it which is required to upgrade the cpu cooler. 

 

Despite the website saying upgrades are easy, that's only related to things like upgrading RAM or adding a new hard drive. In order to install a liquid cooler in this case, I would need to remove the whole mobo. From the 1 person I've been able to find on YouTube, he says it's pretty difficult to do so for the first time. The side panel that is behind the mobo is also pretty difficult to remove for the first time as well. Removing the side panel behind the mobo only exposes the wires that are tucked away, so removing the mobo is the only way to have access to the back of the mobo. 

 

From what I've researched, it seems like the hp omen mobo isn't compatible with majority of the cases that are available. I'm not the type to buy, try, and return, and since this is the only case I've found that fits everything I figure it's a safe bet for me. Considering I'd have to take the mobo out in order to install the liquid cooler, I figure I might as well get a case that has more room and better airflow than the omen case. 

 

I'm not sure what my next move should be to achieve lower temp without any unnecessary purchases. After you had mentioned several times over that water cooling wouldn't be ideal in this case, I'm wondering what my next move should be. 

 

After reading what you and the previous commenter said I'm considering returning the liquid cooler I purchased, cooler master lite 120(I'll link it below), and purchasing the cooler master air cooler that OP is using. The person that I found on YouTube made a water cooler and 3 extra fans work in the original omen case work, but he did mention that the case did not make it easy to do so. Also everyone in the comments (I know it isn't a safe place to take advice, but I figure if everyone has the same opinion it's worth listening to) said he would have been better off getting a new case. I'll link as much as I can about specs and other unanswered questions you have in your post. 

 

Here's the selling page on bestbuy's website. Only differences I can think of would be graphics card. Everything else should be the same:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-omen-gaming-intel-core-i7-9700-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-1tb-hard-drive-256gb-ssd-shadow-black/6349466.p?skuId=6349466

 

Not sure if the power source is listed, but it should be 500 watts. If there's more that you need I'll try to reply with an answer if i know it. 

 

Here's the liquid cooler I have but I'm thinking of returning:

 

https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-masterliquid-lite-120-liquid-cooling-system/p/N82E16835103236?item=N82E16835103236&source=googleshopping&nm_mc=knc-googleadwords-mobile&cm_mmc=knc-googleadwords-mobile-_-pla-_-liquid+%2f+water+cooling-_-N82E16835103236&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI68ivuv2J7AIVRQnnCh2B3A8DEAQYASABEgI-q_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

And here is the guy who's build I'm trying to replicate.

 

https://youtu.be/rlQr_xa4dfw

[Deuteronomy93]

Sure, regarding the mobo, there are lots of cases (typically mid-high end) which have cutouts where the CPU is. These can be used to remove backplates, though some brands did originally say that it helps dissipate heat from the back of the CPU (I'm pretty sure this was debunked though).

 

Regarding the cooler, the 212 is great as an entry level aftermarket cooler as it has very good price to performance that is readily available. My 2 cents on Coolermaster is that they honestly only seem to have 2 great products and 3 ok-ish products.

• Great (these are ranges, with variations)
  • Hyper 212
  • Cosmos
• Ok-ish
  • Fan hubs
  • Fan/aRGB hubs
  • Apparently the new mini ITX case is 
• Bad
  • Everything else
  • I've found that the quality of the rest of their products are severly lacking which is backed up by lots of reviews from others.
  • I have coolermaster fans in my PC and the only reason I got them was because I don't need much airflow with 3 radiators, and having 3 RGB fans together with 2 cables rather than 6 is a great idea. They do however have terrible performance, I put them on the lowest speed/curve my BIOS allows to make them inaudible.
  • I gave my wife a load of my old Corsair fans which are significantly better, but significantly more expensive.

This is just background which may help you with understanding the brands a bit better. I can also say that my wife got a prebuilt when we moved to China which included (what looks like) your AIO but the 240mm variant. We had to go with a prebuilt as it was the fastest way to get a computer with a 0% finance loan. The performance was ok-ish but the fans were loud, used proprietary connectors (not sure if yours does), the tubing is poor quality and the pump definitely started having issues with noise not long after we got it.

 

If you can, I would go for the 212 as you can get some money back, have roughly the same performance and it will last longer.

 

I don't know why you want to emulate that guy's build really, is it only because you got the same prebuilt system? The best way to improve airflow would be to get a new case and more fans. Cases can easily last a long time, particularly newer ones that are build from better materials. The mobo should be compatible if the OP here managed to put it in a Corsair case but you can ask him for more feedback.

 

In terms of what case to go for, lots of reviews on Gamers Nexus, I would honestly go for something you would end up wanting like Lian Li O11 or Lancool 2, these offer great air and watercooling options but are slightly more expensive, definitely worth it however.

 

It sounds like you're in the US? In which case you have a lot of options. If temps and the ability to easily upgrade are your main concerns, I'd do:

• https://www.newegg.com/black-lian-li-lancool-ii-atx-desktop/p/2AM-000Z-00053 or https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811112583?Description=lian li o11 dynamic&cm_re=lian_li o11 dynamic-_-11-112-583-_-Product and max out the fans.
• https://www.newegg.com/arctic-cooling-acfan00137a-case-fan/p/1YF-000P-000H9 5 fans, very good, no RGB, cheap.
• https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-mfx-mhhn-10nn1-r1-black/p/1W8-0049-00060?Description=fan hub coolermaster&cm_re=fan_hub coolermaster-_-1W8-0049-00060-_-Product&quicklink=true
  • Max out all fans and plug them into the fan hub, plug the hub into a PWM fan header on the board and control all at once.

This would give you a very good start for whatever you want to do next. Your temps will go down, you can control the sound level with a fan curve that suits you and you'll have a case you can grow with, allowing you to upgrade as you go. In terms of upgrade path, mostly the same as what I stated originally based on what you're trying to achieve.

 

If you have the money to get the new case and fans, I'd also go ahead with getting a 240mm AIO from Corsair, NZXT etc (something from Asetek) if you can afford it, this would give you better CPU performance. If this is a stretch now, get the 212 and keep it when you upgrade. Having one on hand whenever you encounter issues is really helpful.

 

You could probably pick up a decent z390 2nd hand mobo now that z490 is out to upgrade, then take it from here with SSD (if it is SATA speeds/not enough room), RAM, GPU etc, but I'd replace the PSU before upgrading proper components, again something like EVGA, Bequiet, Corsair etc.

 

Honestly the specs you linked are a little surprising in a good way.

Reasonable:

• CPU
• GPU

Unknown:

• SSD
  • Says its PCIE but you can have a PCIE SSD that still goes at SATA speeds.
  • This can be due to the SSD itself or the MOBO.

Poor:

• Mobo
• PSU
  • Most likely, prebuilts tend to come with bad PSUs
• RAM
  • 16 gigs is ok, 2666 is ok but this is pretty dated now and likely has high latency.

 

[JayBenny]

1 hour ago, Deuteronomy93 said:

Sure, regarding the mobo, there are lots of cases (typically mid-high end) which have cutouts where the CPU is. These can be used to remove backplates, though some brands did originally say that it helps dissipate heat from the back of the CPU (I'm pretty sure this was debunked though).

 

Regarding the cooler, the 212 is great as an entry level aftermarket cooler as it has very good price to performance that is readily available. My 2 cents on Coolermaster is that they honestly only seem to have 2 great products and 3 ok-ish products.

• Great (these are ranges, with variations)
  • Hyper 212
  • Cosmos
• Ok-ish
  • Fan hubs
  • Fan/aRGB hubs
  • Apparently the new mini ITX case is 
• Bad
  • Everything else
  • I've found that the quality of the rest of their products are severly lacking which is backed up by lots of reviews from others.
  • I have coolermaster fans in my PC and the only reason I got them was because I don't need much airflow with 3 radiators, and having 3 RGB fans together with 2 cables rather than 6 is a great idea. They do however have terrible performance, I put them on the lowest speed/curve my BIOS allows to make them inaudible.
  • I gave my wife a load of my old Corsair fans which are significantly better, but significantly more expensive.

This is just background which may help you with understanding the brands a bit better. I can also say that my wife got a prebuilt when we moved to China which included (what looks like) your AIO but the 240mm variant. We had to go with a prebuilt as it was the fastest way to get a computer with a 0% finance loan. The performance was ok-ish but the fans were loud, used proprietary connectors (not sure if yours does), the tubing is poor quality and the pump definitely started having issues with noise not long after we got it.

 

If you can, I would go for the 212 as you can get some money back, have roughly the same performance and it will last longer.

 

I don't know why you want to emulate that guy's build really, is it only because you got the same prebuilt system? The best way to improve airflow would be to get a new case and more fans. Cases can easily last a long time, particularly newer ones that are build from better materials. The mobo should be compatible if the OP here managed to put it in a Corsair case but you can ask him for more feedback.

 

In terms of what case to go for, lots of reviews on Gamers Nexus, I would honestly go for something you would end up wanting like Lian Li O11 or Lancool 2, these offer great air and watercooling options but are slightly more expensive, definitely worth it however.

 

It sounds like you're in the US? In which case you have a lot of options. If temps and the ability to easily upgrade are your main concerns, I'd do:

• https://www.newegg.com/black-lian-li-lancool-ii-atx-desktop/p/2AM-000Z-00053 or https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811112583?Description=lian li o11 dynamic&cm_re=lian_li o11 dynamic-_-11-112-583-_-Product and max out the fans.
• https://www.newegg.com/arctic-cooling-acfan00137a-case-fan/p/1YF-000P-000H9 5 fans, very good, no RGB, cheap.
• https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-mfx-mhhn-10nn1-r1-black/p/1W8-0049-00060?Description=fan hub coolermaster&cm_re=fan_hub coolermaster-_-1W8-0049-00060-_-Product&quicklink=true
  • Max out all fans and plug them into the fan hub, plug the hub into a PWM fan header on the board and control all at once.

This would give you a very good start for whatever you want to do next. Your temps will go down, you can control the sound level with a fan curve that suits you and you'll have a case you can grow with, allowing you to upgrade as you go. In terms of upgrade path, mostly the same as what I stated originally based on what you're trying to achieve.

 

If you have the money to get the new case and fans, I'd also go ahead with getting a 240mm AIO from Corsair, NZXT etc (something from Asetek) if you can afford it, this would give you better CPU performance. If this is a stretch now, get the 212 and keep it when you upgrade. Having one on hand whenever you encounter issues is really helpful.

 

You could probably pick up a decent z390 2nd hand mobo now that z490 is out to upgrade, then take it from here with SSD (if it is SATA speeds/not enough room), RAM, GPU etc, but I'd replace the PSU before upgrading proper components, again something like EVGA, Bequiet, Corsair etc.

 

Honestly the specs you linked are a little surprising in a good way.

Reasonable:

• CPU
• GPU

Unknown:

• SSD
  • Says its PCIE but you can have a PCIE SSD that still goes at SATA speeds.
  • This can be due to the SSD itself or the MOBO.

Poor:

• Mobo
• PSU
  • Most likely, prebuilts tend to come with bad PSUs
• RAM
  • 16 gigs is ok, 2666 is ok but this is pretty dated now and likely has high latency.

 

Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to get back to me. 

 

You're correct about me being in the US. I also discussed it with my buddy and he also suggested that I go with the air cooler considering I would need a lot of space for a liquid cooler. I wasn't really looking to make a lot of upgrades to my set up other than bringing the temperature down. I purchased this set up from best buy during a sale in November 2019 for about $800 US, marked down from $1299 US. I figured with what it came with it was a bit of a steal. 

 

Maybe when the holiday season comes back around I'll consider more upgrades. I was hoping for this guy's upgrade because it was the only lead I had on what I could do. I'm not too familiar when it comes to computers, so I can't comfortably venture out with ideas of my own when it comes to upgrades. I'm open to upgrading the mobo in the future, but I'm sure at that point I would just make a completely new custom build. 

 

To me the next upgrade after the case and the fans would be a new PSU and possibly RAM. 

 

I'm gaming and streaming and recording all at the same time. I'm not running my games at high performance levels (not that I care to) and I'm not really looking to do anything intense like overclocking. As of right now I only run valorant, call of duty warzone, and an emulator that runs smash brothers melee. I think I could let a lot of things slide until they start slowing down. Again thanks for your time to address questions regarding this set up. I ordered a new case and the cooler master air cooler, which should be coming in within the next few days. I'm probably more committed to the mobo than I should be, but I'll probably upgrade that more in the future when I'm financially capable of it. 

 

Also I was looking at the PWM fan connecter that connects via a stable SATA connection. I don't want to hit you with another basic question, but should I expect there to be an extra SATA connector on my mobo? I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around it. If there's a picture or something that I could send you to make things easier I'd be more than happy to send you one. As of right now I've bought a fan splitter I planned on using. 

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by JayBenny

[Deuteronomy93]

No problem!

 

What case did you go for? Your use case is different than OP as it sounds like (due to mentioning watercooling) he will want to upgrade.

 

Regarding the fan hub, there are 3 types of ports on it:

• Sata power
  • Need to connect this to your PSU, this is what will supply power to the fans.
  • Ideally you should have an extra sata power available but prebuilt PSUs being bad, this may not be the case.
  • If you haven't got a spare one but have something like molex, you can buy a molex to sata adaptor which will work.
• PWM In
  • You connect this cable to both the MOBO and the hub.
  • This will allow your MOBO to control the fan speed.
• PWM Out
  • I think there are 10? Plug the fans into these to run them.

So with temps being the main concern, you're pretty much done. A new case with more fan options, more fans in general, and the new CPU cooler.

 

PSU change is definitely something I would do when possible, if you're streaming then yeah RAM would probably help as 16GB is on the low side.

[JayBenny]

On 9/28/2020 at 12:12 AM, Deuteronomy93 said:

No problem!

 

What case did you go for? Your use case is different than OP as it sounds like (due to mentioning watercooling) he will want to upgrade.

 

Regarding the fan hub, there are 3 types of ports on it:

• Sata power
  • Need to connect this to your PSU, this is what will supply power to the fans.
  • Ideally you should have an extra sata power available but prebuilt PSUs being bad, this may not be the case.
  • If you haven't got a spare one but have something like molex, you can buy a molex to sata adaptor which will work.
• PWM In
  • You connect this cable to both the MOBO and the hub.
  • This will allow your MOBO to control the fan speed.
• PWM Out
  • I think there are 10? Plug the fans into these to run them.

So with temps being the main concern, you're pretty much done. A new case with more fan options, more fans in general, and the new CPU cooler.

 

PSU change is definitely something I would do when possible, if you're streaming then yeah RAM would probably help as 16GB is on the low side.

I actually went with the case OP used. Mainly because I'm not sure if the USB ports, audio Jacks and power button will fit on other cases. I've read somewhere that it's hard to find a case that will compensate for the hp omen's components. So I figure I'll be safe and go with OP's case since I know it'll work. 

 

So I've been doing some research regarding PSU's and I found that when using a power supply calculator, if it's 300-350 watts it should be around 450-500 watts minimum. How accurate is that? Also when it comes to the certification should I go ahead and get gold or platinum?

 

I'm considering getting this for the PSU:

https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-550-gold-ssr-550fm-550w/p/N82E16817151203?Item=9SIA25VB2E7253

 

And thanks for the SATA fan connector. I'm more than likely gonna get it and return the splitter I bought. 

[Jules MK]

On 9/27/2020 at 3:21 AM, JayBenny said:

Hey there, build looks great in the new case. I definitely plan on ordering it now. I actually have a few questions concerning the build. 

 

Is the rear exhaust fan the stock fan that your obelisk came with?

 

How difficult was it to install the light panel? (I'm not too crazy about the RGB lighting in there, but I figure if it's easy then why not)

 

This is the fan splitter I purchased on amazon. Will this suffice?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FNQC63R/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07FNQC63R&linkCode=as2&tag=montanezc1-20&linkId=e11bb8f169922744aa6be7b6934e9a63

 

I just bought a cooler master master liquid lite 120. Think I'll have any problems installing it into this case?

 

Again, great transfer! I know with the previous case the airflow definitely isn't the best, and I figure since I have to take the MB out in order to install the cooler, why not get a new case, lol. Thanks for your time!

Hi, sorry for the slow reply! I assume you've done the transfer already. But just in case, the rear exhaust fan came with the case it's 120mm rather than the obelisk 92mm ones, the one I have on the top also as exhaust (might not be doing much.....) was also included in with the case, the 3 in the front I had already so decided 3 in 2 out seems like it might work.

 

The lighting was easy enough to put in, I will confess the light strip is suck in with strong double sided tape. There is no obvious mounting point for the light control board but it's ok bodged where it is.

 

I think the cool master liquid lite 120 should fit no problem.

 

Anyway I'm pleased the post helped I was fed up with people saying what can't be done rather than what could. If you have done the case swap any pics?

 

Cheers Jules

[Jules MK]

On 9/27/2020 at 4:56 AM, thrasher_565 said:

the biggest improvement was the heat sink. i bet you would get 71 in the old case with the new heat sink but anyway still looks good.

Thanks for the reply, sorry for the slow message back. Yeah the heat sink was by far the biggest change, it won't fit in the standard obelisk case, so the next option was water cooling but as the motherboard has to come out to do that  I decided to do the case swap instead. So £80 for the case and cooler achieves at least the same as the water cooling will for less, oh sold the obelisk case for £20 so only cost £60 I guess.

[Jules MK]

On 9/27/2020 at 8:09 AM, Deuteronomy93 said:

This isn't me trying to shit on the post, but I don't see the point of the changes aside from the heatsink.

 

It sounds like you're relatively new to this (which is completely fine), but if you're not sure how best to proceed it would be better to ask for help before starting as the community can help you out really well.

 

Here's my feedback, hopefully it can help moving forwards!

• Just to start, particularly when asking for help, more pictures are better.
  • Fine to have the lights off to show the visuals of how it looks when using it, but more light in other photos will help to critique it. 
• I don't understand what you mean by "the motherboard has to come out", this would be the case in any upgrade/what you've done by moving it to a new case?
• What made you want to move to a new case/choose this one?
  • The new case isn't exactly a good option for watercooling, here are some examples of why, which can again hopefully help you.
    • The top fan mounts offer very little clearance between whatever you're putting there and the mobo.
      • You can see this by how close the mobo+212 are to the fan.
      • Putting a radiator here therefore isn't really a good option for custom nor AIO.
    • The front fans are ok, but again not great for watercooling.
      • The lowest fan is split between the PSU shroud and the main case, installing radiators here can be an option with modding (maybe without) but again goes to show that this isn't great for watercooling as you will need to really check which will work.
      • Putting a custom loop radiator here may work, but AIOs (depending on tube length) may actually suffer due to being too taut/not even reach.
        • When I started I had this issue with the Corsair Air 540 and did push/pull to actually give it some additional space to reach. You could do this with a 120/240 rad but not a 360 without modding.
  • The cable management seems ok-ish for the case, but watercooling means more components and this may look like a mess if you go ahead with it.
    • There seems to be very little room behind the mobo tray.
• Hyper 212 evo, very good choice! This is often people's first upgrade before getting into AIOs and beyond.
• In terms of what to do next, this is the question..
  • What would your budget be?
  • What is your focus?
    • Gaming
    • Productivity, in which case what kind/programs?
    • Etc
  • List out all your parts and as much detail as possible, people like to see everything even down to the CL of the RAM.
    • This can be difficult with your mobo as it might be OMEN specific, but again details will help.
  • Once you've listed these things, it will be much easier for people to advise next steps etc!
    • My impression is that people who want to watercool will often try to start out with getting mid-high end parts and then follow up with the watercooling equipment.
    • In your case (and this is subjective from me based on looks as I don't know the parts), I wouldn't watercool any of this.
      • The mobo is low spec based on the original cooler, 2 DIMM slots etc.
      • The GPU heatsink looks very slim, this tends to be indicative of a low tier card.
      • The case, as above.
    • For me, sound is a real factor, as are the longevity of parts.
      • I would get another 2 fans (including splitters as you said you need these).
      • Populate the 2 remaining areas on top
      • Reduce the fan curve of all fans
      • If you want to watercool, you will definitely be able to reuse the fans.
    • Next, depending on if gaming is your main focus, get a new GPU sometime in November or later which will hopefully mean:
      • More stock of 30 series cards
      • More people reselling 10/20 series cards
      • Big Navi will be out
    • If your PSU is from OMEN, I'd imagine it probably isn't great, upgrading this first (if it can't handle higher wattage cards) is a must and will help the system, energy bills and noise straight away.
    • Next would be the CPU+MOBO or the RAM.
      • RAM will often be able to be used in lower end systems and high end systems with you being able to lower speeds to make it work out for you sooner.
      • Your RAM is a good brand but may be worth upgrading depending on capacity, frequency and latency.
      • If this is enough for now, you may be able to just get another 2 sticks of the same spec with a new mobo.
    • Typically people upgrade MOBOs and CPUs at the same time as inter-generational compatibility is pretty bad (better with Ryzen).
    • That CPU cooler looks like Intel (I could be wrong) so it may be quite a factor for you.
      • I'd go with a midrange AMD option as this will put you in a very good spot.
    • If you don't have much money to spare (though watercooling takes a decent amount to do so I'm guessing you have options?) then the used parts market is going to be very good soon and you could get a slightly older but very good performing system for not a lot of money.
    • Once you have a system which is good enough to be watercooled, now's the time, do you research on what brands you like, budget etc.
      • I saved a decent amount on money with Bykski radiators (I'm British but living in China) which are cheap to buy, even cheaper here but not great.
        • 2 of the radiators are just so thick that the relatively worse performance is fine.

Hey thanks for taking the time to reply - Sorry it took me so long to do the same.

 

I only really posted as I was completely fed up with posts on the internet saying it is not possible to swap the stock motherboard in to a different case and the power supply will need changing too. This is complete tosh, said by people who have not research this and are seeing HP and thinking it's all not compatible with other brands, well It is and it's not even that difficult as the motherboard is essentially a mATX board with the power socket in a weird place. Now if you are on a budget and want to improve what you have for not a lot of money just swap the case, add fans and a CPU cooler and the Omen Obelisk is not a terrible PC.

 

See here: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/product/omen-by-hp-875-0000-obelisk-desktop-pc-series/23302709/document/c06125965

 

The reason for the case swap was the PC ran way to hot for my liking, CPU 95 and the GPU often got in to the 90's too. Both never get out of the mid 70's now.

 

The GPU is a RTX2060 which ran fine on the stock PSU but I have since upgrade to a EVGA supernova 650 platinum (second hand £40)

 

The original case you could remove the rear panel but there was no cut out to access the back of the motherboard, the new case has this so if I did want to water cool the CPU the motherboard wouldn't want need to come out. Which I don't think I want to do, I am a little worried about the pump failing and as the Coolmaster keeps it cool enough I might just stick at that or go for the Noctua NH-D15.

 

The ram is indeed 2666MHz DDR4 2 x 8GB, I could install 2 x 16GB, which might be the next cheap upgrade, unless like you suggest I go for a different motherboard which again is tempting but will get expensive as yes a new CPU is probably a good idea at the same time.

 

Good spot on the intel cooler, it is indeed a Intel Core i7-8700 so yes a couple of generations old now. 

 

 

[Jules MK]

On 9/28/2020 at 8:06 PM, JayBenny said:

I actually went with the case OP used. Mainly because I'm not sure if the USB ports, audio Jacks and power button will fit on other cases. I've read somewhere that it's hard to find a case that will compensate for the hp omen's components. So I figure I'll be safe and go with OP's case since I know it'll work. 

 

So I've been doing some research regarding PSU's and I found that when using a power supply calculator, if it's 300-350 watts it should be around 450-500 watts minimum. How accurate is that? Also when it comes to the certification should I go ahead and get gold or platinum?

 

I'm considering getting this for the PSU:

https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-550-gold-ssr-550fm-550w/p/N82E16817151203?Item=9SIA25VB2E7253

 

And thanks for the SATA fan connector. I'm more than likely gonna get it and return the splitter I bought. 

I see you went for it! How's it going? 

[Jules MK]

OK so the next addition was a SATA fan controller, so the 5 fans are now connected to the system fan header, which has made a difference to the noise when not stressing the system. I went for Thermaltake FP -10 Commander Port Hub for PWM Fans less than £20 from Amazon.

[tycho513]

On 8/11/2020 at 3:11 PM, Jules MK said:

My first attempt at a build (sort of!)
I was looking at water cooling an HP Omen Obelisk 875-0xxx but after much research I discovered the motherboard has to come out to achieve this so I decided to just swapped the HP Omen in to a Corsair Carbide Series 275R Mid-Tower ATX Gaming Case (£60 ish on Amazon) using the stock motherboard, PSU etc. I added a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Air Cooling System (£27 ish new on Amazon).  All for about the same cost as a decent 240mm AIO water cooling system,  It now has 3 intake and 2 exhaust 120mm fans (had added a couple of extra fans to the Omen before), there are no additional fan headers so I have had to use splitter cables.

I chose the Corsair as the configuration of 2 x USB 3, power and audio sockets on the top of the case was as close to the HP Omen as I could find. Only the reset button on the case is redundant. I also fitted the Omen light board i'm not sure it needed it but it was fun to fit. 

The hardest bit was removing the CPU cooler back plate as HP glue it to the motherboard. Just took my time and gently prised it off with a butter knife!

Before the CPU would hit mid 90's playing Warzone for 25 minutes, since the case swap it sits at 73 max.  

I have included a before picture, the books were there to aid airflow from underneath.
Question is what do I do to it next????

 

Hi Jules, 

Do you happen to know if there's a way to get the 5 pin Omen light bar working if I decided to go with a different motherboard altogether? One that only has 4 pin RGB headers. I decided that I needed to be able to run custom fan curves without having to get a separate fan controller from the mainboard, so shifted the CPU, GPU, and storage over to a Z390 Aorus Ultra inside a H500M (wanted to get a CM694, but that would require a tunnel to Canada right now, and I don't have enough spoons). Temps are incredibly low, but staring at the case in the dark is like looking into The Void despite having an ARGB light show. I know I can always just pick up a compatible light bar/strip, but it would be nice to recycle the one from the Omen case.

[Jules MK]

On 12/6/2020 at 6:03 PM, tycho513 said:

Hi Jules, 

Do you happen to know if there's a way to get the 5 pin Omen light bar working if I decided to go with a different motherboard altogether? One that only has 4 pin RGB headers. I decided that I needed to be able to run custom fan curves without having to get a separate fan controller from the mainboard, so shifted the CPU, GPU, and storage over to a Z390 Aorus Ultra inside a H500M (wanted to get a CM694, but that would require a tunnel to Canada right now, and I don't have enough spoons). Temps are incredibly low, but staring at the case in the dark is like looking into The Void despite having an ARGB light show. I know I can always just pick up a compatible light bar/strip, but it would be nice to recycle the one from the Omen case.

 

Looking good!

Sorry for the slow reply, I'm not sure re the Omen light bar, I assume there is an adapter somewhere. From what I understand its the difference between RGB & RGBW.