HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000) review – we cracked the reason for the low price

Even though Victus is not HP’s most affordable gaming brand, it actually presents you with the best offers. And a little something tells us that it won’t be only seasonal.

In fact, the Victus 15 (15-fb0000) can be your best way to enter the gaming world. In particular, the 15-fb0000 comes with AMD CPUs from the last generation – Ryzen 5 5600H, and Ryzen 7 5800H. This is great, because these processors are still very powerful, and are pretty easy to cool.

Graphics-wise, your choices are a bit limited. You won’t be able to get anything more powerful than an RTX 3050 Ti. However, even the baseline GTX 1650 can allow you to play most titles at Medium settings and 1080p.

Speaking of resolutions, we are happy to see that the laptop is only offered with Full HD displays. On a not-so-positive thought, the default option features a TN panel. In addition, you get to choose from a 60Hz IPS, 144Hz IPS, and a 60Hz 100% sRGB IPS panel.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-victus-15-15-fa0000-fb0000/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) - Specs

  • AUO AUO3B9C
  • Color accuracy  11  3.3
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 4000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, No OS
  • Battery
  • 52.5Wh, 3-cell, 70Wh, 4-cell, 52.5Wh, 3-cell , 70Wh, 4-cell
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate
  • Dimensions
  • 357.88 x 255.01 x 23.5 mm (14.09" x 10.04" x 0.93")
  • Weight
  • 2.29 kg (5 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), DisplayPort, Sleep and Charge
  • HDMI
  • 2.1
  • Card reader
  • SD
  • Ethernet LAN
  • 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD with temporal noise reduction
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Digital Microphones
  • Speakers
  • 2x Speakers, HP Audio Boost, Bang & Olufsen
  • Optical drive

All HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you get the mandatory paperwork, as well as a 150W charger. Units equipped with the RTX 3050 or RTX 3050 Ti will receive a 200W power adapter, instead.


Design and construction

When we take the laptop out of its box, we see the now familiar Victus design. It has a large glossy “V” on the back, as well as a construction borrowed from the Pavilion Gaming series. Our favorite feature of this design is the back of the base.

Unsurprisingly, the entire bodywork is made out of plastic. As such, both the lid and the base show flex when they are twisted. However, the plastic material does not feel cheap. Thankfully, the laptop is not too thick, nor too fat either with its 23.5mm profile and 2.29 kg weight.

There is a common “flaw” with Victus and Pavilion Gaming’s designs – the lid hinge. This one doesn’t let you open the lid with a single hand. Furthermore, it is very bouncy in an upright position. In addition, you get a quite formidable bottom bezel, while the top and side ones are thin. Thankfully, there is an HD Web camera above the display.

Now, let’s check out the base. It houses a grill right above the keyboard. Since there are no speakers there we presume that it helps with ventilation. Below it, there is the keyboard. It features a backlight, and a NumberPad, and is very comfortable to use. This is thanks to the long key travel and clicky feedback.

On the other hand, the touchpad is not super responsive. On the bright side, the tracking is accurate, the area is pretty large, and the clicking mechanism is not too bad.

Looking at the bottom panel, we see the speaker cutouts, and another, more effective ventilation grill. The air that gets drawn from the bottom panel gets exhausted through a large vent on the back of the base.

Ports

On the left side, you get the charging plug, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with Sleep & Charge function, an Audio jack, and an SD card reader. Then, on the right, you’ll find the HDMI 2.1 connector, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, a LAN port, and a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort functionality.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

This notebook’s bottom panel is held in place by 7 Phillips-head screws. After you undo them, pry the panel with a plastic tool, and lift it away from the chassis.

Here, the 52.5Wh battery lasts for 11 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing, or 9 hours of video playback. To take it out, you need to undo four Phillips-head screws. Before you do that, unplug the connector from the motherboard.

Here, you get two SODIMM slots for memory. They support DDR4 RAM, working at 3200MHz. As for the storage, you get one M.2 PCIe x4 slot. It only fits Gen 3 SSDs.

Cooling-wise, there are two heat pipes, connected to a huge heat sink. There, two fans blow the heat away from the chassis. As usual, the VRMs and the graphics memory get cooled by a couple of heat spreaders.


Display quality

HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000) is equipped with a Full HD TN panel with model number AUO AUO3B9C. Its diagonal is 15.6″ (39.62 cm), and the resolution is 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 142 ppi, and a pitch of 0.18 х 0.18 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 60cm (24″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

As expected from a TN panel – the viewing angles are terrible. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The measured maximum brightness of 267 nits in the middle of the screen and 241 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 11%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 6770K – slightly colder than the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K, which is not bad.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is low – 400:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 52% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 12 ms.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000) doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. This makes it comfortable for long periods of work in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Gloss level measurement

Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 64.9 GU).


Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000) configurations with 15.6″ FHD TN AUO AUO3B9C.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000)’s speakers produce a sound of decent quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/victus-by-hp-15.6-inch-gaming-laptop-15-fb0000/2101128966

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device features a 52.5Wh battery pack. It lasts for 11 hours and 24 minutes of Web browsing, or 8 hours and 50 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

In terms of processors, you can choose between the Ryzen 5 5600H, and the Ryzen 7 5800H.

HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.


GPU options

In regards to the graphics, there is one extra choice – GTX 1650, RTX 3050, and RTX 3050 Ti. In fact, there is one more possible choice – the AMD Radeon RX6500M.

HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP Victus 15 (15-fa0000, fb0000, fa1000, fb1000) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.


Gaming tests

Metro ExodusFull HD, Low (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Extreme (Check settings)
Average FPS77 fps32 fps15 fps

Borderlands 3Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Badass (Check settings)
Average fps62 fps39 fps29 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Lowest (Check settings)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)
Average107 fps57 fps52 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average fps57 fps53 fps47 fps

[eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000)

Your HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000) can be Faster. LaptopMedia has tested thousands of models in the last 15 years, and we’re yet to see a notebook that couldn’t be made more powerful through modifications. And have you seen the most popular search on Google related to “how to make my …”? No? OK, here it is:

As you see, having a faster laptop is more important than having more hair.

Well, the main issue here is that there are thousands of advices on the Web. Some work, some don’t. Some are easy, some are complicated. Some are safe, and some are risky. If only there could be an Easy-to-Follow, Step-by-Step, and Laboratory-Tested guide by a proven organization, right?

That’s what we’ve done. We have hundreds of laptops scattered in our office, and we’ve spent a whole year testing different optimizations. We’ve chosen the ones that really make a difference, that are easy to implement without expert skills, and that are safe for your laptop in the long term.

🚀 What’s the performance boost I could expect?

There’s no general answer but we’ve reached more than 30% GPU Performance boost on some models, while typically it’s between 10% and 20%. You could always go beyond but we want to be sure that our advice will keep your laptop on the safe side in the long term. But you want to get the absolute maximum? We’ll show you how, and then it’s up to you.

We even set several World Records on 3DMark, one being our first Max Out for a specific laptop model – MSI Katana B13V.

We’d be happy to compete with YOU on the 3DMark rank lists, and see what YOUR laptop can do using our guide!

📦 What’s included?

📖 Our eBook includes All the tools you need, along with an Easy-to-follow guide for hassle-free:

GPU Performance boost by vBIOS replacement, Overclocking, and Undervolting
⚙️ Checking the hardware components and finding if you could get a significant boost by upgrading some of them
💾 Installing a clean Windows OS, with all the base settings you need
📋 Software optimization steps that really give a performance boost
Building a RAID Storage configuration for doubling sequential read/write speeds or protecting your data
🎯 Display Profiles bundle for a panel of your choice, enhancing the display for accurate colors, better experience, and protection of your eyes

🎁 To receive the Display Profiles bundle as a gift, simply email us your panel model through our “Contact Us” form.

💵 What is the price?

R&D on laptops isn’t easy nor cheap, especially when you’re not using cherry-picked review samples but real units instead. Our idea is to reinvest the profits from the sales back in our laboratory. However, we also want to make it a killer deal for everyone who is planning or has already spent on a gaming laptop, as this product would significantly boost the performance per dollar they get.

[eBook Guide] How to MAX OUT your Laptop

🛠️ GPU Modifications: vBIOS, Overclocking, Undervolting
⚙️ Building Fast/Reliable RAID configuration
💻 Hardware upgrade tips for best results
🖼 Display enhancing
💾 OS Optimization for best performance

✖ But if these optimizations are easy, why don’t manufacturers do them?

There are a lot of reasons for the manufacturers to put boundaries on your machine, locking part of its performance:

📊 Market Segmentation: To create different product tiers, manufacturers often limit performance. This allows them to target various market segments and price points, encouraging consumers to pay more for higher-performing models.
❓Unknown Potential: Each unit’s performance varies. Checking each one individually isn’t feasible.
🏢 Regulatory Compliance: Certain regions have regulations regarding energy consumption, and manufacturers often place some boundaries to fit all standards.
🏭 Supply Chain Constraints: Limitations are imposed due to the current availability of components.
🫰 Cost-effective solutions: Often, less popular but important details are overlooked. For example, better RAM types can boost performance by up to 30%, but many users ignore this, and many online stores don’t even provide that info.
🔒 Security concerns: Many protections impact performance while being negligible for regular users. However, manufacturers don’t know if their laptops will be purchased by individuals or large corporations, so they can’t disable these features by default.

 

Not a bad performance bump in terms of Storage Speeds:


What are the default apps that impact performance the most?

What to do when RAID drives don’t show up?
How to optimize Windows further for maximum FPS gain in games?

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000)3.72 GHz (B+13%) @ 70°C3.66 GHz (B+11%) @ 86°C3.66 GHz (B+11%) @ 91°C
ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED (M3502)3.41 GHz (B+3%) @ 92°C3.15 GHz @ 92°C3.11 GHz @ 92°C
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 (15″, 2021)3.85 GHz (B+17%) @ 82°C3.85 GHz (B+17%) @ 92°C3.84 GHz (B+16%) @ 98°C
Lenovo ThinkBook 16p Gen 23.68 GHz (B+12%) @ 86°C3.67 GHz (B+11%) @ 93°C3.53 GHz (B+7%) @ 100°C
ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (M3500)3.52 GHz (B+7%) @ 78°C3.58 GHz (B+8%) @ 94°C3.40 GHz (B+3%) @ 90°C
Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-45)3.57 GHz (B+8%) @ 69°C3.47 GHz (B+5%) @ 69°C3.56 GHz (B+8%) @ 82°C
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro (14)3.43 GHz (B+4%) @ 78°C3.35 GHz (B+2%) @ 88°C3.06 GHz @ 93°C
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (16″)3.77 GHz (B+14%) @ 84°C3.79 GHz (B+15%) @ 89°C3.76 GHz (B+14%) @ 97°C

The Victus 15 (15-fb0000) shows a really good frequency throughout the test. Moreover, the temperatures are in check, but what impressed us the most is the low noise.

Real-life gaming

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)
HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000)1667 MHz @ 64°C @ 50W1670 MHz @ 65°C @ 50W
Dell Inspiron 15 75901395 MHz @ 80°C1395 MHz @ 84°C
Acer Aspire 7 (A715-74G)1552 MHz @ 70°C1532 MHz @ 76°C
Dell G3 15 35901605 MHz @ 67°C1566 MHz @ 74°C
ASUS ROG G5311461 MHz @ 65°C1408 MHz @ 71°C
ASUS TUF FX7051566 MHz @ 74°C1568 MHz @ 74°C
Acer Nitro 7 (AN715-51)1633 MHz @ 61°C1599 MHz @ 67°C

Not only did the GTX 1650 inside this machine run at very high clocks, but it also didn’t really bother the cooling.

Gaming comfort

This laptop runs extremely quietly for a gaming device. Both the internal and external temperatures are low during gaming too.


Verdict

The good news is that the Victus 15 (15-fb0000)’s base model is one of the most affordable gaming notebooks on the market. The bad news, on the contrary, is that we know the exact reason for the low price. Or to put it more accurately – reasons.

First – the use of older hardware. The Ryzen 5000H series is significantly less expensive than the 6000H series. However, we can see that the Victus 15 (15-fa0000) is similarly priced while featuring 12th Gen Intel CPUs. So the main reason shouldn’t be the processor.

Another reason, of course, is the GTX 1650. This cute little GPU needs only 50W of TGP to work, but it does a very good job, considering the price tag. Well, we recommend investing a bit more to get the next step – RTX 3050, or RTX 3050 Ti, since they will offer a significant bump in performance.

Unfortunately, the main reason for this device’s low price is the base display option. HP Victus 15 (15-fb0000)’s TN panel has a Full HD resolution, quick pixel response times, and a comfortable backlight in terms of PWM. On the other hand, the viewing angles are not very comfortable, due to the nature of the panel. Furthermore, it covers only 52% of the colors found on the Web (sRGB color gamut).

It would be best to consider either the 60Hz IPS or the 144Hz IPS one. And if you need the device for color-related work, there is a 100% sRGB model, although it only refreshes 60 times per second.

This was enough bashing for the Victus 15 (15-fb0000). And in our opinion, it doesn’t really deserve it. Its port selection is great. While it lacks a Thunderbolt connector, its USB Type-C port still offers DisplayPort and Power Delivery functions. Plus, there is an SD card too.

But what is best about this device is its battery life (and cooling). We got 11 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing, or nearly 9 hours of video playback from the smaller 52.5Wh unit.

The cooling, respectively, was super efficient with our configuration. Its two fans are pretty quiet during long gaming sessions. Furthermore, the temperature of the graphics card never exceeds 65°C. At least for the GTX 1650. With that said, the RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti should get a bit warmer, but we are confident that the cooling system will suffice.

And if you get the base option, you can still upgrade its RAM and storage down the line. This is thanks to the two SODIMM slots, which work with DDR4 memory in dual-channel mode, and the single M.2 PCIe x4 slot, used for Gen 3 SSDs.

At the end of the day, buying this device means making a lot of sacrifices. You have to be perfectly aware that this is not a top-of-the-line notebook, and it will not be competitive with more expensive machines. However, it does a great job of being more than a gaming machine, so we think that it is worth getting the base option. Oh yes, and don’t forget to stay away from the TN display option.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-victus-15-15-fa0000-fb0000/

Pros

  • Fantastic price
  • Good keyboard
  • 2x SODIMM DDR4 + 1x M.2 slots (one supports Gen 4 drives)
  • Good cooling
  • Decent battery life
  • Quick pixel response times (AUO AUO3B9C)
  • No PWM (AUO AUO3B9C)


Cons

  • Narrow viewing angles (AUO AUO3B9C)
  • Only 52% sRGB coverage (AUO AUO3B9C)
  • Flimsy hinges, resulting in a bouncy lid

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DARREN
DARREN
7 months ago

Why on earth have they removed the sendon M2 SSD slot. Many people like to seperate gaming from work etc.

Dell this with the 12th gen and AMD 6000 G Series laptops and many people have complained about this.

GGtomet
GGtomet
3 months ago

2023 version with 5600H and RX 6500M, cost 549 EUR, upgraded RAM to 16GB dual channel (which is btw max amount for victus 15, note for if any reading this review!) so cost went to 599 EUR in total, it had 1TB SSD (SN810) didn’t see any reason to upgrade it.