New monitor for a gaming rig

Hi all, this is my first time posting to the forums, but I have been reading THG for over a year now. Also, I didn't really know where to put this post since under the "Graphic & Displays" section here is actually not a forum for displays. A few other people were posting about displays here though, so I figured it was good enough. So here we go...

I scrapped together enough money a few months ago to get a gaming rig together and now the next thing on my list is a monitor. I'm still using an old 17" CRT that got me through college and its finally starting to crap out. I've been reading around a lot and I'm having a lot of difficulty deciding what to get. The main focus of my computer is gaming, but I do also use it for my own amateur photo retouching, watching movies, and obviously browsing the net/reading things. I guess I'll just make a little list of whats been going on in my head instead of writing a long, rambling paragraph:

Computer Specs:
Athlon64 3500+
1 Gig RAM
6600GT
17" Aperture Grill from CTX

Monitor Budget: $500 max, hoping to spend much less than that

1) I'd rather have an LCD as they seem to be much better now that a few years ago, but I don't have any problem with CRTs. As such the following points are basically centered around getting an LCD and considering CRTs second.
2) As I said, my computer is mainly for gaming so LCD response time is very very important to me. It will drive me *CRAZY* if my games don't look good. I would gladly sacrifice other features to have as little ghosting as possible. However, I would still like to have a monitor that can do other tasks acceptably (crisp text, watch movies, somewhat rich colors). IMHO, CRTs are more versatile - no problems with response time and deep colors and clear text.
3) If I get an LCD it will most likely have native resolution of 1280x1024. That basically means all my games will have to run in that resolution with a comfortable frame rate. I was not worried about this until I bought FEAR, which I run at 1024x768. In general, I am concerned about being able to run next gen games at native res without spending $300 on a new video card. CRTs do not have this problem as I can scale the resolution with no pixel interpolation.
4) If I get a CRT, I will be able to afford one that can run 1600x1200, which would be very nice to have.
5) CRTs are generally cheaper than LCDs of the same size. I could even get a refurb 21" CRT for around $200. However, I am slightly wary of buying refurb products over the internet.
6) If I buy an LCD over the internet (where they are cheaper), I might get dead pixels. A red dot in the middle of my screen would drive me crazy. To avoid that possiblity, I could buy at a retail store for $100 or $200 more. Regardless of where a new CRT comes from, I don't have to worry about dead pixels so I can get it for the cheapest price possible, internet or real life store
7) I have read in a few places now that CRT quality has actually been going down in the past few years to keep prices low and competitive with LCDs. Apparently its not even possible to get a new aperture grill CRT, which I would rather have. So to get a quality model I might want to get a refurb from a few years ago (again, I don't like refurbs) because I am afraid that new models are all lower quality than what I currently have. I have a friend who bought a 19" CRT from Best Buy and it looks terrible. Much less clear than my 5 year old screen. If that monitor is representative of new CRTs then I definitely have to get an LCD.
8 ) In general, LCDs are the way of the future and CRTs are a dying breed. It seems like a lot of work is going into making quality LCDs and that a lot of people are buying them for all sorts of purposes and they are happy with their purchases. I just feel that its better to get an LCD. At this point buying a CRT seems to be like buying a VCR - its cheap and time tested, but that doesn't mean its the best idea.

I have a few models in mind so far; Viewsonic VX924, Viewsonic VP930B (I believe is the successor to the VP191B, which got a rave review on this site), and NEC LCD1970GX.

Sorry for the long post, but I think thats finally it. Any advice or suggestions on a monitor that I should get would be greatly greatly appreciated. Even just a discussion about this in general would be nice just to let me if everything I'm thinking is on point or if I am missing some stuff. I also wouldn't mind hearing what monitors you gamers are using and the experience you've had with them. Thanks for reading my ramblings!

Im contemplating the same thing right now. I want a 19inch LCD and am debating between Hyundai or Viewsonic.

Not excited at the idea that you may get 1 or 2 dead pixels though.

Does anyone know if you can RMA for a single pixel?

I would go with a CRT because, they are better, cheaper, and no dead pixels. I'm getting a viewsonic e90fb 19inch crt with up to 1900x1400 or something like that. Its 250cad. You listed all pros for crt's even though your wanting an LCD. Is this cause lcd's look cool, or they take less space. If you have the space, get crt. THEN, take the money you saved and save until you can afford a 7800gt, preferably the eVGA 7800gt co at 470mhz.

Actualy, 1024x768 looks just fine on my L90D+. 800x600 will look bad no matter what. He should be good at 1280x1024 without AA, which is probably a more preferable mode anyway.

I've found an LCD to be well worth the price. It's also much easier to look at for long periods of time, and the image should always be sharp (no pixel bleeding)

Hyundai makes some of the best LCD's I have used. Very clear pictures in games and extremely little to no ghosting.

I'd say that Hyundai is pretty awesome. i upgraded from a KDS 19in to an L90D+ and WOW, its amazing. And if you are worried about dead pixels, look at ZipZoomfly.com and find out their policy. I've looked briefly and couldn't find anything about Dead Pixels, though you may want to send them an email. Also, mine arrived with NO dead pixels!!!

I was ready to jump on a the L90D+ but read a lot of reviews which mentioned color lines forming vertically.

Anyone here experience this?

i myself have a 21 inch crt, wich is nice, but times have changed and with your vga-adapter i suggest you go for a high quality 19inch lcd. You'll have a high performance big screen and I am certain you can fit it in your budget,


greetz

Ya,
I ment wide screen.
I don't think world will ever go back to 4:3