ECO mode 60Hz cap bug in OMEN Gaming Hub when using VRR

[Rhaston]

Hello,
I was not able to find any way to make a bug report so I am posting here. I believe this might affect a lot of people using Omen laptops who do not even realize it. This is potentially affecting your effective FPS and you might not be getting full performance out of your laptop / screen if you use ECO mode.
1. ECO performance mode caps screen refresh rate to 60Hz - this works correctly as expected.
2. However after using ECO mode even a single time during a session (between full Windows reboots) the 60Hz setting will get partially stuck even after switching performance mode back to Balanced or Performance.
3. After ECO mode was used and then disengaged, Variable Refresh Rate will act weird - the screen will be stuck rapidly switching between intended value tied to actual FPS and the (now supposedly disengaged) 60Hz cap. Expected behavior when gaming with 120 FPS limit could look like this: 120, 118, 115, 117, 120... However with this bug triggered you will observe 120, 60, 118, 60, 115, 60, 117, 60, 120, 60...
4. This can be observed with external displays (in my case USB-C to Display Port but after testing I believe this bug affects HDMI connection to dGPU and G-Sync / Freesync as well and is not limited to iGPU or Intel's software). I believe it might also affect native laptop's display but it's difficult to test as one needs to rely on the monitor's On-Screen Display (OSD) reporting actual refresh rate values in Hz to notice this. The FPS counter in your game will continue to report correct values as they are rendered and G-Sync / Free Sync / Intel VRR will report as engaged so if you look at those exclusively you will never realize the problem. Not all monitors report refresh rates and not all users will notice this fluctuation with naked eye.
5. This issue does not present itself if ECO mode is never used during a session. However if ECO mode is used even once and then disengaged there is no way to fix this behavior without a full Windows restart (ECO mode needs to be disengaged before the restart). Restarting the game, OMEN Gaming Hub and switching performance modes does not fix this in my experience. 
6. I did not observe this issue outside of Variable Refresh Rate - when ECO mode is disengaged, desktop or other non-g-sync apps like your browser will correctly revert to your screen's full refresh rate and stay there. This only affects apps that engage g-sync etc. like video games (which is where it matters most).
After some investigation this seems unrelated to V-sync settings or MPO enabled/disabled (even though I initially suspected MPO to be the culprit), switching VRR in GPU driver settings off and back on does not fix this either. This might be a Windows-related issue though as I observed similar behavior on a gaming laptop from another brand (Lenovo) that relies on similar performance overlay. I hope this reaches the software development team as I was unable to make a bug report (the feedback/support button in OMEN Gaming Hub takes you to chat or phone options and the agents were not able to share my findings with developers).
All testing done on all-stock Omen Max 16 with fully updated Windows 11, latest drivers and latest OMEN Gaming Hub as of January 2 2026, the issues persists since at least August 2025 when I got the laptop.

[Jerry_57]

Hi @Rhaston,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.
 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

It seems that you are experiencing a bug with the ECO performance mode on your OMEN laptop when using Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). While the ECO mode is designed to cap the screen refresh rate to 60Hz to save on power, you've identified an issue that persists even after switching back from ECO mode, potentially limiting your laptop's performance.
 

Here's what you can consider doing:

Check for Updates: Ensure that both your OMEN Gaming Hub and your graphics drivers are up to date. Updates may contain bug fixes that resolve this issue.

Resetting Settings: You might try resetting the performance settings within the OMEN Gaming Hub after switching away from ECO mode. This might help restore the intended use of VRR without the 60Hz cap.


I hope this helps.

Take care and have an amazing day!
 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Jerry_57

HP Support

[Rhaston]

Hi @Jerry_57 - as I mentioned I am already using the default settings and maintain my system, drivers and Omen Gaming Hub fully updated. This behavior persisted through multiple app versions / updates since I obtained the laptop and I exhausted tests I am able to perform on my end. I think the only way to address this is submitting a formal bug report to the software development team. If you can assist with forwarding this to the right people I would really appreciate it. Thank you.