Okay...I found a benchmark with the 4870 at 1920 x 1200 and it was only averaging like 23 or 24 fps with high settings 4xAA on Crysis. So it seems to me that I would definitely have to crossfire in order to effectively play that game. That's way too much money for me to spend though, so I suppose I'm going to go with 1680 x 1050. The fps for that was in the 50s for the same test.
Is there really that huge of a difference between a 22" 1680 x 1050 and a 24" 1920 x 1200? I mean, yeah there are more pixels, but the screen is also bigger. I ran into the same questions with my hdtv and came to realize that they don't even make hdtvs in 1080p under 40" (this may have changed by now) because with screen sizes under 40", 720p looks just as good. I guess what I'm saying is you may have twice the number of pixels, but the screen is almost twice as big. Now I know that's not true for the monitors because 22" and 24" is very close, but I'm wondering if I'm really going to notice THAT much of a difference. And I think a solid fps is better than a few more pixels.
Thanks for the replies and help! Sorry for the long post, I suppose I'm just trying to convince myself haha. I'm ordering everything today, but the monitor may have to wait.