Well, there's a question of what they're getting exactly. Some think they're taking a lot of the panels rejected by quality control but that pass their own, less stringent, standards. Clearly they're filling a demand stateside because the eBay sellers are doing a brisk business and there's huge forums based around buying and comparing these bad boys.

Just as likely they're simply paying less for an "unofficial" shift at the factory as well as buying some Apple rejects. However they're doing it, Dell and the other big boys over here are going to have to play ball eventually or they'll get their big margin market eaten out from under them when someone else does.

Yeah, that's the thing. Who knows where exactly these panels are coming from? We know what they're used in elsewhere. I've heard that you can ask certain sellers to ensure that you get one without dead pixels for a small extra fee (I did the same thing with my Dell IPS) so I don't think that these can (all) be rejects.

But I am sceptical about them being able to put enough panels out there to really worry the big boys. Wherever they're getting those panels from I doubt they can get enough of them to prove a threat. I might be wrong, but I get the feeling that any changes will be for the worse. Either in terms of price or quality. So right now is probably the best time to buy.

Fully compatible standards doesn't guarantee that the manufacturer adheres to them. At least any TV/Computer display hybrids should be examined carefully before buying to make sure that they let you disable overscanning. On the other hand, they may be more likely to let you switch to 4:3 aspect ratio, perhaps even by a single button press from the remote.

I don't know when the hardware support for scaling became available exactly, but the drivers need to support that for it to be of any use. I think at least since the Windows Vista most of the driver versions have more or less failed at providing aspect ratio settings, at least every driver that I have ever installed has had the option for aspect ratio either been greyed out or it pretends to let me choose my preference but the setting never gets saved and activated. Additionally, if the aspect ratio correction is done by the display itself it works regardless whether your PC runs Windows, Linux or DOS.

I recommend you take a look at this page: DigitalVersus Best Monitor Guide

They're actual pro reviewers. Personally I would go with this: Asus PA238Q because of IPS panel, 16:9 and price. At the end they also say accurate colours but the issue with IPS is that they have average or below average contrast ratio which affect the image depth (compare to a HDTV or Plasma).

Your upcoming card will have the option you seek with newer drivers. Currently with nvidia cards you have the option for Aspect Ratio (keeps to the AR of your desktop resolution), Fullscreen (stretch) and No Scaling (boxed).

The 23 inch version looks like a good choice, but the user reviews of that brand's monitors seem to state problems with dead pixels and how ASUS won't exchange for a new monitor unless there are at least four dead pixels and something else wrong with the monitor. It just doesn't sound like their quality control or warranties are "tight" and that is a bit of a concern for me. Should I not worry about it and just go for it? I also thought of going with this one, but if that article you linked is saying that a lower response time can potentially be bad then it probably would not be the best choice, plus people have had problems with that monitor wobbling due to the crap stand it's on.
You did clear up a question I had about my graphics card by the way, thank you.

Edit: Review seem to be pointing out a rather bad backlight bleed in that 23 inch model.

That's my opinion as well. I've had 2 Samsung monitors and they've both been great. They don't use IPS IIRC, they use something similar.

Personally, what I did was I bought a Samsung HDTV a couple years back and have it hooked up to my computer. I'd recommend getting a 16:10 ratio monitor as it gives you that much more vertical space.

Yeah, i'm starting to wonder if I should stick with 16:10 as well. I mainly wanted a slightly wider image from the 16:9, plus i've heard playing The Witcher 2 on a 16:10 monitor makes it play with black bars on the top and bottom.

Depends on the scaling. Personally, it's not something that I mind, but some people can be really anal about black bars. Which is ultimately silly because some games are 16:9, some are 4:3 others are 4:5 and I then there are the games that handle 16:10 just fine. Realistically you're going to end up with bars from time to time, unless you're OK with stretching.

But that's just my personal opinion. I'm sure people have complex rationalizations of why that's horrible. Personally, I just ignore the bars. Assuming that the hardware scaler isn't working.

Yeah, this going to be a tough choice, thankfully the monitor is the very last thing I have left to pick out before ordering all my PC parts and stuff. I guess 16:10 is a more proper and "traditional" ratio for PC gaming.

Well, I read about a problem with running the Splinter Cell games in 16:9 is why I was considering 16:10, but it seems a minor issue so I think i'll go with 16:9. Looking around online it seems quite difficult to find a newer 16:10 monitor, but I find 16:9 better because you get a slightly wider view it seems. I just need to find a reliable 16:9 23-24 inches with a DVI input, this will be "fun". :P

Usually a 16:10 monitor is a little bigger, so you lose nothing really when a game or movie has bars. It's purely a mental thing that bothers some people I guess... I never had trouble with it.

Also Witcher 2 was patched and now fills the screen.

Pretty sure they are mostly phased out now though, so probably a moot point.

I see.

I have of couple of possible choices for a monitor, but i'm wondering about contrast ratio. Is there an ideal number I should look for in contrast ratio or does it even matter much?

Higher the contrast ration the better the black levels, but companies use the ratio differently so one company's 30,000:1 might not be as good as another company's 10,000:1. It's not really an standard quantifier like resolution.

Plus sometimes deep blacks are bad, as game developers today tend to make games on the dark side to compensate for people generally buying cheaper TVs with shitty blacks. Getting a TV with good blacks means you're likely to just turn the black setting down anyway so games don't look too dark.

Again, buy from a quality monitor maker like Samsung and it should balance out. I also had good luck with a Dell monitor once, but not sure how quality they are across the board. I can't speak for any other brand really, other than LG, which sucks.