Was it really worth it?

The day after Christmas last year, I went shopping at FRY's for parts for my new build. I found a 19" SOYO (never heard of it) for $169.99. I was on a strict $1000 budget, so I went ahead and bought it. I ended up with a WHOLE lot of dead pixels (green, brown, and white) so I replaced it. THe new one had no distinguishable dead pixels with a black background when I thoroughly checked it. It's pretty mid-class (8ms, 600:1, 1280X1024) and is nice, but I have since found a black dead pixel in the lower left hand corner, and some dark blotches that weren't there before. I will buy a new one around summer I just needed a quick monitor for my build. Was it really worth it?