The only reason why i gave up my Acer 19" is because I got that LG for 200 bucks from a friend. He paid $400 for just 2 months B4. The contrast is 3000/1 and the rest of the specs are great. You can find 22" monitors for around 200 but you have to remember they have the same rez as the 20 inchers and side by side you can hardly tell the size difference. Here'e a link to that LG:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005097
Here's an Acer 22 inch for 219:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...E&N=2010190020 1309822582&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Palit 8800GT Super 1GB 740/970 SLI
E6600 @ 3.6 1.47v
Asus P5N-e SLI @ 400
GSkill 2x1Gb DDR800
WD 74GB Raptor
Audigy ZS
Hiper TypeR 580 PSU
Antec 900 v.2
LG L226WTY-BF
3Dmark06 16200

So what operating system? Vista seems like the most logical choice, but I'm still skeptical as to performance and compatibility issues.

And will I notice the difference the hard drives cache (8mb) makes? Nearly 500gb is a lot of memory for that price, but will the cache size matter with games?

All I'm going to say is Vista is pretty. DX10 isn't there yet and XP has Better performance so you make the choice. I reverted back to XP but I deal with iVista alot at work.

Palit 8800GT Super 1GB 740/970 SLI
E6600 @ 3.6 1.47v
Asus P5N-e SLI @ 400
GSkill 2x1Gb DDR800
WD 74GB Raptor
Audigy ZS
Hiper TypeR 580 PSU
Antec 900 v.2
LG L226WTY-BF
3Dmark06 16200

I trust XP more, but what about memory? I'll start with 2gb of RAM, but what if I want to increase that? Have there been problems with that? Wouldn't you need XP 64-bit for 4gb, and supposedly support for XP 64 isn't as good.

I still have the same question about the hard drive: Will it matter? I could have a 250gb hard drive and I don't honestly think I would run out of space, and suppose it had a 16mb cache? Would the difference be noticeable?

Get XP for sure and why do you think you need more than 2GB of memory. I rarely even come close to using 2/3 of my 2gig and I multitask with the best of them...In fact it's my job to multitask. So I guess what I'm saying is more than 2GB is worthless unless you use multiple memory hogging apps at the same time

Palit 8800GT Super 1GB 740/970 SLI
E6600 @ 3.6 1.47v
Asus P5N-e SLI @ 400
GSkill 2x1Gb DDR800
WD 74GB Raptor
Audigy ZS
Hiper TypeR 580 PSU
Antec 900 v.2
LG L226WTY-BF
3Dmark06 16200

Was already considering XP over Vista. I was just wondering if it has done anything to make it worth considering, since I've been on the "I hate Vista even though I don't know much about it" bandwagon since it came out. And you might want to work on the ranting thing.

Still, same question about hard drive. And wondering if I'll need more cables.

The only thing I see Vista has over XP is the security thing but it's so annoying I end up turning it off anyways.

Palit 8800GT Super 1GB 740/970 SLI
E6600 @ 3.6 1.47v
Asus P5N-e SLI @ 400
GSkill 2x1Gb DDR800
WD 74GB Raptor
Audigy ZS
Hiper TypeR 580 PSU
Antec 900 v.2
LG L226WTY-BF
3Dmark06 16200

So, XP Pro, 32 bit (with SP2 obviously) is fine? I don't actually think I'll want more than 2gb of ram anyway.

So that should be everything, aside from cables, right?

Cache can have a big difference on drive speed when used for routine or repetitive data transfer but really, a larger cache won't change the maximum transfer rate at which a drive can transfer data. Also keep in mind that the cache size is very small compared to the disk cache the OS reserves for itself, and the overall system performance really depends on how well these two work together. You'd only see a noticeable performance difference between large cache differences, such as a drive with a 4MB cache and a drive with a 16MB one, in which case it is a no-brainer as to which one is faster when fetching data. Also, go for a higher capacity drive if storage is important and just to make sure you don't run out of space when you really need it.

I agree My 7200RPM 16meg cache benches alomst as fast as my Raptor 10,000 8meg cache. So in this case cache makes up for speed.

Palit 8800GT Super 1GB 740/970 SLI
E6600 @ 3.6 1.47v
Asus P5N-e SLI @ 400
GSkill 2x1Gb DDR800
WD 74GB Raptor
Audigy ZS
Hiper TypeR 580 PSU
Antec 900 v.2
LG L226WTY-BF
3Dmark06 16200

And the operating system: XP Pro with SP2. I"ll only need 32-bit, right?

XP Pro 32bit is fine.