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

A premium display with unique stying and features

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

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The Raptor 27 fully supports HDR10 signals, with an extended color gamut and dynamic contrast feature that broadens dynamic range. In HDR Auto mode, it will switch between signal types without user intervention.

HDR Brightness & Contrast

With nearly 480 nits brightness in our test, the Raptor 27 is one of the brighter HDR400 screens we’ve tested. Thanks to an effective dynamic contrast feature, it also delivers excellent HDR black levels and a static ratio of 4,835.8:1. Though that’s only good enough for fourth place here, it’s still a better result than many 27-inch HDR monitors. Visually, the Acer and Viotek are about the same. Only the Asus breaks out of the group, thanks to its super-low HDR black levels.

Grayscale, EOTF & Color

HDR grayscale tracking is solid, with just a slight green tint visible beyond the tone-map transition point. The error is hard to spot in actual content because it will only exist in very small highlight areas of the image. Dark and mid-tones are perfectly neutral. The EOTF curve tracks almost perfectly with just a bit of darkness around 10-30%. It’s not enough to adversely affect shadow detail which is very strong and visible.

In the HDR gamut test, we see some over-saturation in all colors and near-total coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut. The errors aren’t severe enough to mask fine detail and our experience playing HDR games was completely positive. Hue errors are extremely minor and when compared to other HDR monitors, the Raptor 27 stands out as one of the more color accurate.

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.

  • 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