Hyper X Armada 25: Excellent All

At $450, the Armada 25 is a (very) premium 240Hz 24.5" gaming monitor with a space-saving mounting arm in the box. But it's hard to justify the price.

The Armada 25 is a 240Hz FHD monitor that is great to game on and includes a heavy-duty monitor mounting arm in the box. While the specifications and performance are impressive, we're not sure it's enough to justify the price in this highly competitive market.

HyperX is best known for its gaming peripherals, including headsets, keyboards, and, more recently, microphones too. Having been acquired by HP in 2021, HyperX later announced that they would be expanding their gaming lineup. A few months ago, HyperX revealed the Armada series of monitors, consisting of the Armada 25 and 27.

The Armada 25, which we're reviewing today, targets more competitive gaming with a smaller 24.5-inch 240Hz FHD display. The Armada 27 has improved picture quality with a QHD HDR 400 display but is limited to 165Hz. At $450, the Armada 25 isn't cheap, and it faces a lot of competition from similarly sized and even larger monitors that cost less. So why would you choose this?

The Armada 25 has impressive specs, though, at this price point, admittedly not jaw-dropping. The Armada 25 uses a matte IPS panel with 400 nits of peak brightness and supports 95 percent of the sRGB color gamut. It has a 1ms response time and supports NVIDIA G-Sync 4, which eliminates screen tearing, stuttering, and input lag.

Shared with the Armada 27 is the input selection: one DisplayPort 1.4 and two HDMI 2.0 ports. An HDMI and DisplayPort cable are included with your purchase, but keep in mind that the limitation of only having HDMI 2.0 instead of 2.1 means full 120Hz support on consoles like the Xbox Series X will not be supported. Higher refresh rates will only be possible using a PC with DisplayPort.

As this is only an FHD monitor, performance should be identical regardless if you are using the HDMI or DP connection. A bigger setback, however, is the lack of any USB or a 3.5mm audio jack which can take away from the streamlined and convenient approach HyperX is aiming for with these monitors.

As someone who usually makes use of these auxiliary ports to avoid additional cabling, I could see this potentially being a dealbreaker for some users.

The Armada 25 has thin bezels on all four sides monitor with a slightly thicker plastic bottom that features a white Hyper X logo.

This makes it easy to create a seamless dual monitor setup, however, the larger bottom bezel might encourage you to flip the monitor upside down if you were planning on stacking them, or going for a triple or even quad monitor setup. On the right back side, you'll find a power button and a directional pad for the OSD menu, which controls your usual settings and picture adjustments.

HyperX believes their new monitors offer added value and convenience that some gamers will appreciate. Instead of a traditional stand, the HyperX Armada 25 and Armada 27 are the first gaming monitors to bundle a monitor head and ergonomic arm with your purchase.

While 25" and 27" monitors don't typically require very large desktop stands, using an arm helps you save additional desk space and gives you a more minimalist look if that's what you're going for. With my rather narrow desk, using the arm made it much easier to use a larger mouse pad and position my keyboard how I liked.

In contrast, larger monitors like the MSI MPG Artymis 343CQR, which we recently reviewed, can make it especially difficult to use your peripherals unless you have a deep desk that can accommodate the extra space needed for their monitor's larger and awkwardly shaped stand.

The Armada arm attaches to the back of your desk using its included C-clamp. It's compatible with desks up to 2" thick, but for thicker desks (up to 2.4"), a grommet mount is also included if you don't mind drilling holes. With the arm installed, the monitor similarly clips onto to the VESA mount and locks in.

Like other monitor arms, you can adjust its tension to your preference using a flathead screwdriver or Allen wrench. I found the arm was calibrated perfectly out of the box, and I was effortlessly able to push, raise, or rotate the monitor into any position I wanted, including vertically. The arm held the monitor in place each time without a hint of unwanted movement. The arm also has built-in cable management for keeping your desk more tidy.

In addition to the extra desk space, you gain for adding peripherals, the Armada arm helps you properly set your monitor to the correct height to maintain a healthy posture. If you've only ever used a monitor stand, there's a good chance your monitor is placed too low or high and causing strain on your neck, back and eyes.

If you're able to install the monitor using the clamp on your desk, I would highly suggest using that over the grommet mount, as this will give you more flexibility to move it as necessary. One of the few downsides for some users would be the lack of a traditional stand which could come in handy if they plan on packing and using the monitor in different areas frequently, for example, LAN parties.

With the additional size and weight of the monitor arm, it wouldn't be very practical to pack it up regularly. While you could easily buy a compatible monitor stand, that would be an additional cost, and for those users, the Armada series probably wouldn't make much sense.

The HyperX Armada Single Gaming Mount arm retails for $109 on its own, which is priced rather competitively compared to other third party monitor mounts that offer the same build quality and adjustments. While you can find several cheaper options for about $30 to $40, those are usually made of plastic instead of metal.

I've used a number of cheap plastic monitor arms that claim to support my monitor's weight, but ultimately begin to sag and lose their strength or worse; they can crack and break when you try to readjust their tension. You're also limited to the one monitor, with no option to expand capabilities in future.

Using the Hyper X Armada Addon Gaming Mount, which costs $80, you can have up to four 25-inch monitors or two 27-inch monitors mounted to a Single Gaming Mount. So if you were planning on adding a monitor arm to your setup, you can "save yourself the hassle of searching for a compatible desk mount" and get a high-quality one that can be expanded later right in the box.

This is an advantage unique to the Hyper X Armada series, which could make its premium cost over the competition worth it to some gamers.

For a lot of competitive e-sports games, a 23-25" FHD 240 Hz monitor is the sweet spot for size, speed, and fidelity. Everything felt fluid when hitting 220-240 FPS in games like Overwatch 2. With G-SYNC, there wasn't any noticeable tearing, and images on screen looked sharp without any blur.

At 90 PPI, the pixel density isn't the highest, but you'll still be able to read smaller text. While a QHD or 4K monitor will be sharper, you likely won't notice much difference on a smaller monitor like this. Unlike the Armada 27, VESA Display HDR 400 is not supported with the Armada 25, which, although isn't very bright, can give your HDR content more pop.

The default picture profile looks good and, for most users, should have enough contrast and color while still looking accurate. The Armada 25 has intense blacks and will have a slightly better contrast ratio than most IPS monitors at 200:1, which is only bested by VA panels.

The Armada 25 is an excellent choice for competitive gaming, but for a more everyday monitor which can also be effective for content creation and other media consumption, you may want to consider a larger option like the Armada 27. While not as fast at just 165Hz, the $50 upgrade gives you more screen size, resolution, and punchier colors—which may be a worthy tradeoff for some.

Although the included $109 mounting arm adds lots of value and benefits, the Hyper X Armada 25 is still very expensive even when compared to other monitors in the $300-$400 price range. You could easily save over $200 by choosing another option. There are similarly specced monitors like the $260 Dell S2522HG (we reviewed the 24-inch model last year), which not only offer very similar performance, but also include several USB ports and a headphone jack.

You can also find larger, curved, and faster monitors like the AOC C27G2Z, which fetaures FreeSync and only costs $199. Perhaps as the Armada lineup matures, we'll see the pricing become more competitive. Still, at its current price of $450, this is a very premium choice for the added convenience of bundling an arm in the box.

It's exciting to see HyperX expand into the monitor space, and its debut Armada 25 and Armada 27 are great options—but very expensive. If you want a fast and sleek gaming monitor with a powerful and articulate mounting arm included in the box, then the Armada 25 is currently the best choice. But for the Armada to be a strong recommendation, in addition to a $100 price drop, I would love to see the addition of USB ports, an audio jack, and maybe even a built-in speaker.

Paul is a seasoned tech writer with a focus on reviewing camera, audio recording, and smart home products. Since 2016, he has shared his love for practical yet innovative tech through his work, drawing on his experience as a professional videographer to provide a unique perspective on the latest gadgets.