HP’s new Omen X gaming PC is a tilted homage to the NeXTcube

COLOGNE, Germany—While common wisdom suggests that your average gamer would prefer a smaller PC over a larger one—see Nvidia shrinking down its desktop graphics cards to fit inside laptops—HP is bucking the trend with its imposing Omen X PC.

While it only houses a micro-ATX motherboard, the Omen X's tilted cube design with separate compartments for motherboard, power supply, and storage, makes it far larger than your average micro-ATX PC. Inside the motherboard compartment there's space for up to two full-length graphics cards, and three 120mm fans that can be used together to fit in a 360mm radiator or all-in-one watercooler. There's room in the PSU compartment for monster 1500W units, while the storage compartment houses four neat hot swap hard drive bays that'll take 3.5- or 2.5-inch drives.

Unusually for a PC from an OEM, the Omen X is designed to be taken apart by users. On the back of the case is an eject button that pops off the side cover with little effort, revealing the internals. On the front, behind one of the four squares outlined by customisable RGB LED lighting (because everything has to have RGB lighting these days) is a tool kit containing a screwdriver and extra screws. That's particularly handy given that the Omen X will be sold both as a complete PC, with prices starting at $1,800/€2,300 (~£2,000), and as a standalone chassis for an extremely pricey $600/€600 (~£500).

The EU/US price discrepancy is probably due to a lower-end model that won't be on sale in Europe, but we don't have any more details at this point.

That makes the Omen X one of the most expensive PC cases on the market, up there with InWin's tempered glass masterpieces and Corsair's humongous Obsidian 900D. You're gonna have to really dig the Omen X's cuboid looks to justify the cost, particularly as there are similar (but not-so-titled) cube cases available for far less. Still, it's a unique look, and build quality on the samples shown at Gamescom was impeccable, with solid side panels and lovely attention to detail on the front and rear I/O. If it weren't for the lack of a CPU cooler cutout on the motherboard tray or the option for a window—this is a case just begging to modded—I might even have considered the Omen X for my next big PC build. [I'm off to talk to the IT department now; I'm due a new office PC... -Ed]

The company insists that the 45 degree slant isn't just for show; it says that by tilting the cube on its side, airflow from bottom to top is improved. It's also useful when maintaining or upgrading the system; the angle means that the internals are neatly presented and accessible as soon as you take the lid off. This is in contrast to typical tower cases where as often as not you'll end up having to lay the machine on its side whenever you want to work on them. With HP emphasizing that the system uses industry standard parts and will be fully end-user upgradable, this kind of accessibility is an important consideration.

HP will have a range of specs available to order online ranging from a little under $2,000 up to around $3,000. But if you want something more exotic, the company has partnered with boutique PC builder Maingear to offer more options. Maingear offers an enormous array of hardware options, so you have particular preferences about the motherboard or particular model of SSD or hard drive you want, Maingear can sort you out.

The company offers custom paint jobs, boasting that they can match any automobile paint both inside and out, a wide range of water-cooling options, fancy interior lighting, factory overclocking, and more. With the right options, Intel's latest Broadwell-E processors, and multiple water-cooled video cards, prices can reach beyond $10,000 for a finished system. The price may be high, but the fit and finish of the system we saw was superb, and with its hardline tubing and shiny chrome fixtures, it looked very cool too.

Aside from the Omen X, HP unveiled at Gamescom an updated pair of Omen 17 laptops sporting either an Nvidia GTX 1060 or 1070 graphics card, which have unfortunately gotten thicker in order to accommodate the beefier hardware. Plus, HP has teamed up with Steel Series to release a range of gaming accessories, which include rebranded versions of the Sibera headset, Rebel mouse, and Apex keyboards. The new accessories are shipping now. The Omen X Desktop is due to become available on hp.com today, and in US retailers in October; in Europe, HP is saying that it should become available in September.