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.
The Raptor 27 has very accurate color and gamma but runs its default color temps a little on the warm side. It can be enjoyed without calibration, but with a few tweaks, it produces reference-level results.
Grayscale & Gamma Tracking
Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.
You can see the warm tones in the Raptor 27’s Default picture mode, with errors visible in the brighter parts of the image. Gamma tracks to near perfection at the 2.2 reference line.
In the Custom picture mode, precise RGB sliders produce a professional-grade result. This is about as good as it gets for any display of any type. Gamma is now exactly on target as well.
If you choose the alternate Rec.709 gamut mode, color temperature is locked into the Warm setting, which is similar to what we saw in the Default mode. It also ups the gamma to 2.4, which is part of the 709 spec. This makes the picture a bit darker, but raises perceived contrast. It’s a good look for SDR content, especially video. It’s also what we would choose for movies.
Or you could go for one of the THX modes. You get Dark and Bright options, which correspond to 90 or 285 nits peak. Grayscale tracking is also a tad warm, but less so than the 709 preset. Gamma also tracks precisely at 2.4.
Comparisons
If you stick with the Raptor 27’s out-of-box settings, you’ll see a warm white point with very accurate gamma and color. The best choice is to dial in our recommended settings in the Custom picture mode and use the wide gamut for all content. If you want an accurate colorspace for SDR content, the THX or Rec.709 modes work very well. Calibration produces the best grayscale tracking at just 0.41dE average.
Gamma tracking is superior to nearly every monitor we’ve ever tested. This does a lot for perceived contrast and color saturation. A 0.03 range of values means luminance sticks to the 2.2 standard perfectly. The other gamma presets offer the same accuracy. In the Custom mode, the Raptor 27 averaged 2.20. This is excellent performance.
Color Gamut Accuracy
Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
The Raptor 27’s native color gamut is both large and accurate. Razer claims 95% coverage of DCI-P3, and we measured over 94%. It’s one of the few monitors to hit all the green targets. Only slight hue errors in yellow and magenta can be seen in the chart. But an average error of 1.99dE means visually perfect color accuracy.
Calibration puts every measurement inside its target square. It truly doesn’t get better than this.
For color purists who prefer the smaller gamut for SDR content, Rec.709 and THX can fill the bill. Of the two, THX is a little better. 709 mode over-saturates red a little, though the error is quite small. Both modes have a slightly warm white point as well, but overall quality is still very high.
Comparisons
The result shown here is the Raptor 27’s Custom mode, with our calibration in place. Not many monitors can boast a color error under 1dE. The Raptor is 0.92dE. THX and Rec.709 modes are both under 2dE, which renders them visually perfect in the gamut test.
Extended color monitors are getting more colorful with each new model. The Raptor 27 almost leads the pack with 94.03% coverage of DCI-P3. Only green comes up a tiny bit short but visually, it will be hard to tell the difference between the Razer and the Viotek. In the Rec.709 and THX modes, its sRGB volume is 97.63%, also visually perfect. One could use the Raptor 27 for color-critical work without a compensating profile.
