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

A premium display with unique stying and features

Reviews
By
published
Razer Raptor 27 165 Hz
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Razer)

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

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

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

Image 1 of 2
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.

16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • herrwizo
    Interesting to see both favourable (here) and completely unfavourable reviews (on other sites) for this monitor. This alone makes it a very questionable choice, despite the great design.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Wasn't this monitor the one they didn't like in Hardware Unboxed?

    For the price, this thing was underwhelming, if I remember correctly?

    Regards.
    Reply
  • cknobman
    THX stopped meaning squat years ago when it just turned into a "pay to play" game. They just diluted their brand and standards in order to make a "tier" for even junk to have their sticker applied to it.

    Today THX just means the company wasted money on a useless cert and I dont wanna pay extra for it.
    Reply
  • coloradoblah
    cknobman said:
    THX stopped meaning squat years ago when it just turned into a "pay to play" game. They just diluted their brand and standards in order to make a "tier" for even junk to have their sticker applied to it.

    Today THX just means the company wasted money on a useless cert and I dont wanna pay extra for it.
    Razer bought THX lol, but yes it means nothing these days, it’s too bad, used to be great stuff
    Reply
  • saunupe1911
    The lack of HDMI 2.1 is unacceptable.

    I'm not buying any laptop, monitor, or video input/output device that doesn't include HDMI 2.1 unless I'm certain all I want to do is 4k 60hz 10 bit HDR
    Reply
  • sizzling
    £899 they are having a laugh for this spec, it would be expensive with £400 knocked off. I have the ASUS PG279QM on order for just over a £100 less than this and that is 240Hz, G-Sync (not G-Sync Compatible) and has NVidia Reflex.
    Reply
  • coloradoblah
    saunupe1911 said:
    The lack of HDMI 2.1 is unacceptable.

    I'm not buying any laptop, monitor, or video input/output device that doesn't include HDMI 2.1 unless I'm certain all I want to do is 4k 60hz 10 bit HDR
    Isnt this a 1440p monitor?
    Reply
  • SkyBill40
    coloradoblah said:
    Isnt this a 1440p monitor?

    Sure is.

    On a note about this monitor, Hardware Unboxed blasted it somewhat fiercely and deservedly so. What Razer is providing in this monitor doesn't come close to matching up with the price. Far better can be had for cheaper. I say this as a Razer fan, too. In no way, shape, or form would I consider buying this monitor for anything above $500 (if even that). This is just... shameful.
    Reply
  • Hellbound
    I'm actually amazed at the oversimplified review of this monitor. This monitor is very much overpriced crap.. Want a real review? Watch this one from Hardware Unboxed.
    XQvPf4ZM7IcView: https://youtu.be/XQvPf4ZM7Ic
    Reply
  • coloradoblah
    SkyBill40 said:
    Sure is.

    On a note about this monitor, Hardware Unboxed blasted it somewhat fiercely and deservedly so. What Razer is providing in this monitor doesn't come close to matching up with the price. Far better can be had for cheaper. I say this as a Razer fan, too. In no way, shape, or form would I consider buying this monitor for anything above $500 (if even that). This is just... shameful.

    Ok I missed you mentioned output, I’m not surprised by the price, Razer always charged a premium like Apple but without their quality control or customer service.
    Reply