I know that to play games on this size of a screen i'll need a good graphics card, (with HDMI or at least DVI) to play a game at a decent Frame rate. I, however, am not willing to pay for a 5870 (ps, it needs to be ATI).
I was thinking which video card i should use and i found a few, but i probably won't be buying till woord comes about the 5850 (price drop!)
About your 24-inch monitor. You CAN drop the game resolution down as well as the quality if you have issues. There's nothing demanding you to run at the full screen resolution.
If the new 5750 or whatever is coming out you definitely want to wait for that. You may be antsy to game NOW but you'll be kicking yourself later maybe.
If you really can't wait and won't invest in the HD5850 then consider the HD4770. It's 90% the performance of the HD4870 but consumes much less energy with the new 40nm process.
Personally, I'm holding off to see what NVidia offers but all indications are between December and March for the launch dates.
ya, i'm planning on waiting for the 5850 to come out, because that will atleast spark some price drops., but i am leanig to ATI because im liking their power usage and style. But if Nvidia's 300 series is mind-blowing, i'll definately go for that