I'm currently using a Westinghouse 19" wide screen LCD set at the default 1440x900. I had to search to find that setting for AH and it took me a month to set everything to look right. If I only used this system for AH, then I wouldn't have gotten a wide screen and I wouldn't recommend one. But I also watch movies and I love the way my desktops and applications look otherwise. A lot of picture restoration is happening on this computer and the added width is a godsend.
But I've learned that for gaming, a CRT would probably be the way to go. If you decide on an LCD, remember that the lower the response rate (the time it takes a pixel to change from black to white), the better the picture will be in the game. Too high of a response rate and you may get "fuzzies" around the edge. For an LCD, a response rate of 4-6ms, maybe up to 8ms, would be better that those that are 10-20ms. Then there's the speed. Analog will always be faster than digital.
Video cards.... I'm a huge fan of Nvidia, so I can only talk about Nvidia cards. My old system was an AGP only system and I had bought a 6800XT card, overclocked to 6800GT speeds. Good speed. I usually stay between 55-60 fps with everything enabled for quality on AH. I use the high res pack and the only thing I don't have turned on is water animation, because it makes me sick and disoriented. I've recently upgraded my system and one of the things I looked for in a motherboard is the ability to transition between AGP to PCIe-16x. I found that mobo from newegg.com. My next purchase will be a PCIe video card, which I'll be able to swap out the AGP card for. That saved me the hassle and expense of doing it all at once.
The web has a lot of information, which will allow you to research your upcoming purchases.
