LCD monitors, Display settings, video cards

Okay, I decided to splurg and get myself an LCD monitor for my computer finally.  I'm going from a regular DELL 17"(?) CRT to an HP 19" LCD.  I've got serveral questions here.

1.) Was this a justifiable purchase for $280?  Like, anything particularly wrong with LCD screen quality-wise compared to the ol' CRT (which I've gotten quite used to.)  Does HP suck when it comes to their LCD monitors?

2.) The recommended screen resolution for this thing is 1280x1024 (I've always used 1024x768.)  My video card (an nVidia Gainward 5950 Ultra)'s max resolution is also 1280x1024.  I'm worried that with this setting, my video card will be pushed to its limits.  Should I be worried about such a thing?

I know these are stupid questions, but I just wanna make sure, guys.

Thanks!

>>4
unless your system actually slows down significantly while refreshing the display, you're not pushing your video card to it's limits.  the display resolution is a very minor factor compared to how many hi resolution polygons the gpu may be crunching in the latest greatest 3d shooter.