The Razer Raptor 27 144Hz is a great 1440p gaming monitor. It has an impressive design with outstanding build quality, a unique and impressive cable management system, and Razer's signature RGB lighting feature in the base. Like most IPS monitors, it has wide viewing angles but a low contrast ratio, so it's not the best choice for gaming in a dark room. It has an outstanding low input lag and a great response time, but there's a bit more motion blur than most 144Hz gaming monitors. It also has great peak brightness and can display a wide color gamut, delivering a decent HDR gaming experience. Unfortunately, it has poor accuracy out of the box.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, with units that we buy completely on our own, without any cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized and custom tools to measure various aspects with objective data-based results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance against the competition, and whether or not it's easy to find.
Our Verdict
The Razer Raptor 27 is a good overall monitor for most uses. It's designed to be a gaming monitor with an incredibly low input lag, excellent motion handling, and support for FreeSync variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. It's good for office use with its high resolution and large size, and you can easily share your screen with others. Unfortunately, the contrast ratio is mediocre and it has poor out-of-box color accuracy, but it displays a wide color gamut for HDR content.
- Excellent design and impressive build quality.
- Low input lag and a great response time.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Poor accuracy out of the box.
The Razer Raptor 27 is a good office monitor. It has wide viewing angles and great screen real estate. Unfortunately, the stand has a limited range of motion, so it might be difficult to place in an ideal viewing position, and it has only decent reflection handling. It has great peak brightness, though, so glare shouldn't be an issue in most offices.
The Razer Raptor 27 is great for gaming. It has an incredibly low input lag and excellent response time, resulting in clear motion. It has a native refresh rate of 144Hz and supports FreeSync VRR technology, reducing tearing in games. Unfortunately, it has a mediocre contrast ratio, so blacks will appear gray if you game in the dark. However, since it has an IPS panel, it has good viewing angles if you want to use it for co-op gaming.
The Razer Raptor 27 is a good monitor for multimedia. It has a great amount of screen real estate, outstanding low input lag, and wide viewing angles, great for sharing the latest trends with some friends. It only has decent reflection handling, but it's bright enough that glare shouldn't be an issue in most rooms. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as good in a dark room, due to the low contrast ratio and poor black uniformity.
Good for media creation. The 27 inch screen on the Razer Raptor 27 offers plenty of space for opening multiple windows at once and the 1440p resolution delivers a clear image. It has good viewing angles if you need to share your screen with others, but unfortunately, the stand only allows for tilt adjustments. It also has great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing.
This is a decent monitor for gaming in HDR. It has a mediocre contrast ratio, so blacks look gray in a dark room, but it has decent peak brightness in HDR and it can display a wide color gamut. The Razer Raptor 27 has great gaming performance, with outstanding low input lag and great response time.
Changelog
- Updated Jul 04, 2022: There was a mistake in the 60Hz input lag results. We remeasured the input lag at 60Hz, and it's 0.4ms higher than our original results.
- Updated Mar 25, 2021: We set the tilt range to 'No' by mistake. It has been fixed.
- Updated Mar 25, 2021: For consistency, we've changed the tilt range from N/A to 'No', and the USB-C result to indicate power delivery and DisplayPort Alt Mode.
- Updated Jan 28, 2021: We've changed the HDR input lag to N/A and the DisplayPort version from 1.4 to 1.2.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 27" Razer Raptor 27 144Hz, model number RZ39-0276, which is the first monitor made by Razer. At E3 2021, Razer announced an updated version of this monitor. The new version has a 165Hz refresh rate and is FreeSync Premium certified and THX certified, but otherwise appears to be unchanged.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Raptor 27 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we'll update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Model | Size | Resolution | Refresh Rate | Notes |
| Raptor 27 | 27" | 1440p | 144Hz | FreeSync, G-SYNC Compatible |
We don't know when the Razer Raptor 27 we reviewed was manufactured, but the product label can be seen here.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The Razer Raptor is a great gaming monitor with an impressive design, but slightly worse motion handling than most similar models. See also our recommendations for the best gaming monitors, the best 27 inch gaming monitors, and the best 1440p 144Hz monitors. Also, check out our recommendations for the best gaming mice and the best gaming keyboards.
The LG 27GL850-B/27GL83A-B is slightly better than the Razer Raptor 27 144Hz. The 27GL850-B has a much faster response time, resulting in much clearer motion with almost no noticeable blur behind fast-moving objects. The Razer Raptor has an optional black frame insertion feature, though, which can help improve the appearance of motion. The LG also has a slightly more adjustable stand, and it can be VESA mounted.
The ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q is slightly better than the Razer Raptor 27 144Hz. The ASUS has much better ergonomics, motion handling, and color accuracy, but the Razer has a significantly better build quality and supports HDR. Also, the ASUS has a slightly higher contrast ratio, better black uniformity, and significantly better reflection handling.
The ASUS ROG Swift PG279QZ and the Razer Raptor 27 144Hz are very similar for most uses, but the PG279QZ is better for gaming. The ASUS has much better ergonomics, so it's easier to adjust the screen to your ideal viewing position. The ASUS also has a much faster response time, resulting in clearer motion with less blur. The Razer Raptor has an incredible design, and unlike the ASUS it supports HDR, delivering a decent HDR gaming experience.
The Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD is slightly better than the Razer Raptor 27 144Hz, and it's a bit better for gaming. The AORUS has a more adjustable stand, so it's easier to place it in an ideal viewing position. The AORUS also has a faster response time, resulting in slightly clearer motion, with less blur behind fast-moving objects.
The Razer Raptor 27 144Hz and the Pixio PX7 Prime are very similar overall. The PX7 Prime has a slightly faster refresh rate and slightly clearer motion, but it lacks an optional black frame insertion feature. The PX7 Prime has better ergonomics, so it's easier to place it in an ideal viewing position.
The Razer Raptor 27 165Hz replaces the Razer Raptor 27 144Hz. Both monitors are very similar, but the main difference is that the newer one has a higher 165Hz refresh rate, and it has a quicker response time too. The 165Hz model displays a wider color gamut in SDR and HDR, and it has much better out-of-the-box accuracy, but this can vary between units. The newer model has a few extra features, like a THX Cinema mode, but we don't test for that.
Test Results
The stand is large and supports the monitor extremely well but there's still a bit of wobble to it. The base is thin enough that you can still place small objects in front of it, and there's a unique RGB feature around the base.
Update 03/25/2021: We set the tilt to 'No' by mistake. It can tilt from 2.5 degrees to -90 degrees. It has been fixed.
Update 01/20/2021: For consistency, we've changed the swivel adjustment from N/A to 'No'. The score remains unchanged.
Unfortunately, the Razer Raptor 27 has disappointing ergonomics. It has a decent height adjustment range and an outstanding tilt range, but the base can't swivel, and it can't be rotated to portrait orientation.
Update 06/15/2021: At E3 2021, Razer announced a new VESA mount adapter. The adapter is compatible with this model and the new 2021 version.
The back of the monitor has a high-end fabric finish and it feels extremely well-built. There are grooves along the back of the base that provide outstanding cable management. Unfortunately, the stand can't be removed easily.
The borders are incredibly thin on three sides, great for a multi-monitor setup.
The monitor itself is fairly thin, but it'll take up more space on your desk with its large stand.
This monitor is extremely well-built. Most of the frame is made of metal, and the back is covered in a premium texture cloth. The stand wobbles a little bit where it attaches to the back, but this shouldn't cause any issues.
As is the case with most IPS panel monitors, the contrast ratio is mediocre. Blacks will look gray when viewed in dark rooms.
The Razer Raptor 27 doesn't support local dimming. The above video is for reference only.
Great SDR peak brightness. This monitor should be able to overcome glare in any room.
Decent peak brightness in HDR. Small highlights in some scenes stand out a bit, but it isn't quite bright enough. It can get a bit brighter than the Gigabyte Aorus AD27QD.
Good horizontal viewing angles, which is typical of an IPS panel, although it doesn't perform as well as some other monitors.
Good vertical viewing angles. The edges of the screen may appear a bit darker if you sit close to it, but this shouldn't be a problem for most people.
Excellent gray uniformity. The sides of the screen are a bit darker than the rest, but this shouldn't be very noticeable with most content.
Poor black uniformity. There's visible clouding throughout and there's blooming around the center cross. This is most noticeable when viewed in the dark.
The Razer Raptor 27 has poor out-of-box color accuracy. Most colors are inaccurate and the color temperature is much warmer than the target, so each color is closer to red. Fortunately, the gamma follows the curve well, although dark scenes may appear darker than they should.
After calibration, the Razer Raptor 27 has excellent accuracy. Any remaining inaccuracies aren't noticeable.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model, due to manufacturing tolerances.
Excellent SDR color gamut, with near-perfect coverage of the sRGB color space used in most content. It also has excellent coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space used for some professional photo editing.
Outstanding SDR color volume. It's mainly limited by the low contrast ratio, as it can't produce dark saturated colors very well.
The Razer Raptor 27 displays a wide color gamut, with great coverage of the DCI P3 color space used in most current HDR content.
Mediocre HDR color volume. Unfortunately, colors aren't as bright in HDR, and it can't display dark, saturated colors very well.
There are no signs of temporary image retention, even immediately after displaying our high-contrast static test image for ten minutes, which is great.
The Razer Raptor 27 has outstanding gradient performance, with no noticeable banding in any shade.
Unfortunately, there are some signs of color bleed. This shouldn't be an issue with most content, though.
This monitor has decent reflection handling, similar to the Acer Predator X27 and the Gigabyte Aorus AD27QD.
| Mode | Response Time Chart | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Photo |
| Weak | Chart | Photo |
| Strong | Chart | Photo |
Excellent response time. It's a bit slower than some other 144Hz monitors, like the Gigabyte Aorus AD27QD, but motion still looks clear on the Raptor. The recommended overdrive setting is 'Weak', as it offers the least amount of overshoot. The 'Strong' setting has less motion blur behind fast-moving objects, but there's overshoot in some darker transitions. This monitor's replacement, the Razer Raptor 27 165Hz, has a higher refresh rate and quicker response time.
The Razer Raptor 27 has a flicker-free backlight at all brightness settings. There's an optional Black Frame Insertion (BFI) feature that can improve the appearance of motion. Like most FreeSync monitors, this feature isn't available if FreeSync is enabled. The setting that controls this feature is called Motion Blur Reduction.
This monitor has an excellent fast refresh rate. It supports AMD's FreeSync VRR technology and it has an excellent wide VRR range over both HDMI and DisplayPort.
Update 01/28/2021: We've changed the result of the 10-bit HDR input lag to N/A due to a change in our testing methodology. At 10-bit, we can only achieve 100Hz over HDMI, and 120Hz over DisplayPort. Also, we lack the necessary tools to measure HDR input lag over DisplayPort. The input lag at 100Hz with 10-bit HDR over HDMI is 6.7ms.
Incredibly low input lag, which is excellent for gaming. Console gamers will also appreciate the low input lag at 60Hz, delivering a quick gaming experience.
The 1440p, 27 inch screen is great for gaming or multitasking.
Update 03/25/2021: We've changed the USB-C result to indicate power delivery and DisplayPort Alt Mode.
Update 01/28/2021: We incorrectly indicated the DisplayPort version as 1.4 instead of 1.2. It has been fixed.
The single USB-C port supports DisplayPort Alt Mode and USB-C power delivery, but it's also the upstream port.
The Razer Raptor 27 has a few additional features. It can overlay a refresh rate counter, and it has a unique RGB feature around the base. The RGB feature can only be controlled through Razer's Synapse software, and the USB upstream cable must be connected to your computer.
A single joystick nub is used to navigate the on-screen display, similar to the one found on LG's UltraGear monitors, like the LG 27GL850-B/27GL83A-B.
