Razer Raptor 27 165 Hz Gaming Monitor Review: Saturated With Quality And Performance

A premium display with unique stying and features

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To compare the newest Raptor 27’s performance, we’ve brought in five other 27-inch QHD screens, ranging in speed from 165 to 180 Hz. There’s Monoprice’s Dark Matter 42892, Acer’s XB273U-NV, Viotek’s GFI27DBXA, MSI’s MAG272CQR and Asus’ XG27AQ. All are IPS panels except the MSI, which uses a VA part.

Pixel Response & Input Lag

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Razer Raptor 27
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

All the monitors manage to draw a full frame white field in 6ms, regardless of refresh rate. In terms of motion resolution, the differences will come down to subtleties in each panel’s overdrive. The Raptor 27 has an excellent one that avoids ghosting artifacts entirely. It also comes in second in the total lag test, at 26ms, beating both 180 Hz screens. Only the Asus can respond to control inputs more quickly. And we doubt anyone will perceive a 1m difference. The Raptor 27 is suitable for competition.

Viewing Angles

Razer Raptor 27

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The Raptor 27’s viewing angles are excellent, with less than 10% light reduction at 45 degrees horizontal and no visible color shift. It’s one of the best IPS panels we’ve tested. The vertical view is more typical of the category, with a green tint, 40% light reduction and some detail loss. But this is a great monitor for sharing.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

Razer Raptor 27

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

We’d expect a premium monitor like the Raptor 27 to be built with good quality control, and our sample certainly lived up to that promise. It had no visible bleed or glow, and hotspots were only detectable by our light meter. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.