Hi, I'm looking to work on my computer a little and was wondering a few things.

I've got an old 26" Samsung TV which I use as monitor all the time, but there are a thing or two wrong with it. First of all the resolution of 1360x768 is kinda outdated and doesn't look as crisp anymore. The colors, especially at night, are not that good (black looks like grey :razz. But to make matter worse, after I have Firefox opened for a while and close it, I can sometimes still see the text of my bookmarks...

So I'm looking for a new screen and I was kinda wondering if it's 'worth it' to get an IPS screen like the Dell Ultrasharp U2711. Basicly all I do is play games, watch loads of movies and TV-series and do some photoshopping on it. So it needs to have good colours and can't have any input-lag for the gaming. But the Dell screen is around EUR550 here which seems a little on the steep side for a screen. So I'm wondering if it's really worth it for my needs and if there are nice alternatives like LED panels perhaps. It needs to be atleast 26" since I don't want a smaller screen. I think the maximum size as monitor is around 30 or 32" for my likings.

My second upgrade I got planned is a SSD. I'm looking around to speed up my PC a little more and with the high HDD prices of today a SSD isn't that bad of an idea. Now again, is it worth it? I'd reckon a 128GB SSD for OS and apps would be nice (maybe a game or two?). I've seen some reviews and the "Samsung 830 series Desktop Upgrade Kit 128GB" seems to score well overall. I've heard the SSD's with the sandforce controller are having problems with stability or something? It's really important that it's 100% stable without the risk of losing data or something crazy. I current have a Samsung F3 spinpoint where my OS and apps are on which performs well (~115mb/s). My motherboard only has Sata-300 slots, so that also would be something to consider (unless I got some room left for a PCI card with Sata-600).

And last but not least I'm looking to style my case a little. I plan to paint it black inside this summer. Are you people familiar with something like this? Would I need to remove the popnails to do it properly? I have no clue really.

Together with painting it I also want some new casefans and a new CPU-cooler. The Noctua fans are nice fans but their colour is just horrible IMO and won't fit the scheme I have in mind. For the CPU-cooler I had this one in mind. It comes in several colours which is welcome. The reviews are also good. The price however of around EUR90 seems a little steep again... Are there any coolers (can also be something like a Corsair H80) that are cheaper but perform in the same class?

I will also need a few new casefans to match the colourscheme and the CPU-cooler. I had 4 of these in mind on the side of my case and one 140mm version on the rear of my case. Again, the problem of money: They are like EUR25 per fan which will be a lot of money if you need 5 of them.

Since I'm typing a whole novel here I'd also like to ask something about the existing casefans that came with my case. I have two 230MM fans (on top and in front (the top one has red LEDS)) which I'd like to replace. Do you guys know anything?

edit: It seems like the Cooler Master Megaflow which is 200MM fits too on top and front. The diameter of the blades seems to be the same while it's more silent.

The whole idea of the fans is to make my PC more silent and give it an other look. I want to paint it black and give it some white accents (the fans and such). Any help is welcome.

TL: DR; I need advice on a monitor, SSD, CPU-cooler and casefans.

Yes an IPS panel is worth the investment, especially the Dell one is very good and praised everywhere. IPS panels are more expensive then the usual stuff but it pays itself back in excellent color accuracy and 180 degrees viewing angles without any loss of quality.

I did what I suggested here to do for myself; http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1649317#post1649317

And have no complains. Maybe in the end it might have been nicer to order a Full HD and a bigger screen but... Hmm.. Can always do that later and use the LG as television screen because of the HDMI input

I also have a SSD for more then two years now. Another very good investment. Believe me, once you have one, you never look back and wondered why you didn't buy it earlier. It stays cool, no noise and no sudden death because of mechnical parts. At the time I selected an Intel SSD (160 Gb) and it still runs like a charm. Every application starts almost instantly and booting / restarting Windows 7 takes only a few seconds.

It seems not important but trust me, it actually is. All that waiting on a slow harddisk is really annoying and in my eyes is worse then for example a slow CPU. The most important factor is also not the disk transfer rate but the access and seek time which makes the big difference.