HP Victus 16 gaming laptop review: Powerful hardware in a stylish case

The competitors of the Victus 16-e0179ng include other gaming laptops with the GeForce RTX 3060 such as the Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH, the Alienware m15 R5, and the Asus TUF F15 FX506HM. These competitors are also listed as the comparison devices in our charts below.

HP laptops are known for their unique designs. The Victus 16 is no exception here and distinguishes itself visually in many ways from the competitors. In addition to the V on the display lid (which is unfortunately very susceptible to fingerprints), the pretty design of the fan vents on the case bottom provides an individual look. Despite its numerous design elements, the case does not look overly playful but still rather subdued, which is mainly due to the dark colors.

In terms of the build quality, the Victus 16 leaves some mixed feelings. The plastic surfaces, which tend to produce clattering in some places (cover and touchpad area) could be more robust, for example. The hinges are also not perfect. First, when we open the display lid, the base unit also moves slightly with it, and second, vibrations of the surface will also lead to more than the usual wobbling of the display. On the other hand, the workmanship gives hardly any reason for complaint. Almost all the case elements of our test unit show clean transitions. However, due to the edgy design, some corners still feel quite sharp, so they can cause some discomfort while using the laptop.

At 2.5 kg (~5.5 lb), the weight of the Victus 16 is similar to that of the competitors. Only the Asus TUF F15 is a tick lighter at 2.3 kg (~5 lb). In terms of the height, with its 2.35 cm (~0.93 in), the 16-inch laptop presents a slim impression, placing between the slimmer Alienware m15 R5 and the thicker Lenovo Legion 5.

Connections

The connection equipment is not quite up-to-date anymore. Because of AMD, the laptop has to make do without Thunderbolt. However, the fact that the four available USB ports (3x Type-A, 1x Type-C) only support 3.2 Gen1, which corresponds to the old 3.0 standard, is an unnecessary limitation. At least the Type-C port is capable of DisplayPort output, so that together with the HDMI 2.1 port and the built-in display, you can run up to three displays. The connections are completed by an RJ45 port, an audio port (combined headset/microphone port), and a card reader.

The card reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC) delivers a mediocre performance. Barely 80 MB/s during sequential reading and transferring photos are less than the average for gaming laptops. But at least the Victus 16 has a card reader, while all of the competitors fail in this regard.

A communication module from Realtek handles the wireless communication. While the RTL8852AE is at a fairly current level in terms of the technology (Wi-Fi 6), in our range test using the Netgear Nighthawk AX12 router (1 m distance), the measured results weren't really convincing. For receiving data, the Victus 16 finished in the last place, for example.

As we are used to from most laptops, the webcam quality is limited. In addition to the color accuracy, the image sharpness also turns out disappointing.

All that is included in the box is a quick start guide and a nicely rounded 200-Watt power supply.

Not only will you need a small screw driver for tiny Philips screws to get at the insides, but you also need a good combination of delicate touch and force. The bottom of the case is tightly fastened, especially in the back. After you finally succeeded in opening the case, you are greeted by a clean presentation. The space below the palm rest is completely taken up by the battery. Behind that are two RAM slots and two M.2 slots (each of them with a cooling element). The cooling system consists of two fans, several heat pipes, and relatively large-size metal surfaces.

Aside from the stability, which is less than optimal, the touchpad delivers a good performance. With a width of 12.5 cm (~4.9 in) and depth of 8 cm (~3.1 in), it is pleasantly large. Even though the surface feels slightly less smooth than in many competitors, all the mouse movements succeed easily. Gesture support such as zooming and scrolling with two fingers also works reliably. A small issue: left and right clicks at the bottom edge produce slight clattering sounds, which takes away some of the quality impression of the laptop.

While some of the competitors offer mediocre displays (the first of those being the Asus TUF F15), the 144-Hz panel of the Victus 16-e0179ng scores in almost every regard. 

Considering the GeForce RTX 3060, the Victus 16-e0179ng should be settled in the lower high-end range, even though 6 GB of VRAM are not state-of-the-art at this point anymore. 16 GB of RAM and a 1-TB SSD should satisfy most buyers and be sufficient for the next few years. The same goes for the octa-core processor from AMD.

The Ryzen 7 5800H is considered the absolute top in the laptop segment. The octa-core model on 7-nm basis that contains 16 MB L3 cache and is able to work on 16 threads in parallel via SMT does not have to hide behind the Intel competitors. The opposite is the case, in fact.

As our Cinebench R15 loop shows, the 5800H performs at the level of the Core i7-11800H, which is also specified at 45 watts TDP. However, newer benchmarks such as Cinebench R23 reveal that the processor in the Victus 16 is unable to develop its full potential. In other devices, the AMD CPU achieves a performance that is various percentage points higher. The basic clock speed of the 5800H is also 3.2 GHz. Under load, up to 4.4 GHz are possible due to the automatic Turbo.

In the PCMark 10 system test, the Victus ends up next to last. However, the differences turn out relatively small and should be hardly noticeable in practical operation. Subjectively, the operating system responds as quickly as we expect from a current gaming laptop.

As the storage solution, HP uses an NVMe drive from Western Digital in our test unit. The 1-TB version of the WDC PC SN730 races past most of the SSDs of the competitors that use Micron, Toshiba, or SK Hynix SSDs, particularly in the AS SSD benchmark. It is also very useful that those who want to expand the storage will find an empty M.2 slot under the hood.

In contrast to the GeForce RTX 3050 (Ti), which due to its meager video storage of only 4 GB does not offer any particular assurance and sense of being future proof, the GeForce RTX 3060 is a good choice for price conscious gamers. The DirectX 12 model from Nvidia's Ampere generation at least has 6 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, which is currently still sufficient.

However, analogous to the CPU performance, the GPU performance of the Victus 16 is also mostly below average compared to the competitors. This is not surprising, since the HP only configured the RTX 3060 with a TGP of 95 watts (including Dynamic Boost). Theoretically, up to 130 watts are possible, as for example Lenovo shows with the Legion 5. That laptop is often more than 10% ahead of the HP device in the synthetic graphics benchmarks and also in the gaming runs.

Despite the relatively low TGP, the Victus holds its own with modern games. With the exception of "Crysis Remastered," which uses raytracing at higher levels, all the tested games were run at more than 60 fps even in maximum detail settings. This was the case even for extremely demanding and VRAM hungry games such as the recently introduced "Deathloop."

Beyond some smaller FPS fluctuations, the constant load test with "The Witcher 3" shows nothing unusual.

During idle operation, the 16-inch laptop strikes a good figure in terms of the noise level. For long stretches, the fans remain turned off, which leads to completely silent operation. However, under load the peace and quiet comes to an end. 44 to 52 dB(A) represent a clearly noticeable noise level that can feel annoyingly loud to some users and recommends the use of headphones. At almost 50 dB(A) during "The Witcher 3," the Victus 16 is more noticeable than the Alienware m15 R5 and Asus TUF F15 but still less loud than the Lenovo Legion 5.

Our audio analysis attests the Victus 16 with a decent sound in the middle of the field. According to the current measurements, 40% of all the competing devices offer a better sound and 54% a worse one, with 6% being comparable. As usual, especially the bass is lacking. The Asus TUF F15 competitor, for example, is ahead here.