viewing or editing pictures and technical drawings? there is a big difference in what you would want depending on what you do.
cad tends to be better suited for dual screens since often you need alot of data on screen at once or in the case of 3d multiple view windows.
graphic design tends to be better suited for larger higher resolution screens such as the 2560x1600 displays. you could of course use dual screens and use the off screen as a toolbar workspace.
both fields benefit from as much working space as possible more so than increased screen size. i would say that two 22" screens side by side would be more beneficial to either than one 40" screen. after all, your resolution will double and this is what directly impacts screen real estate. the only benefit to a larger screen is for bad eyes or viewing from further distances.
fps gaming benefits most from single screens or triple screens. dualscreens do not work if you fullscreen across both since the reticle will be centered in the bezel. you will need to window on just one screen and turn the other off or have it as place for teamspeak, itunes, or other applications while you game.
some rts games can utilize dual screen and some cannot.
again, viewing 2d and 3d media is different than creating it. you can easily view finished documents on a single screen but when creating it two screens are superior. especially for 3d.
i have had my hand in both fields so i have quite a good idea about what works best. originally i was planning on doing freelance graphic design as even self taught i was better than half of the competition but ended up in the cad field (which is similar in many ways). i have worked with single monitors, one large tv as a monitor and two monitors and although very possible to do work on one monitor, two monitors really is ideal.
personally i prefer the professional monitors viewsonic offers (i have one 9 years old and it still works great) but dell and on occassion asus and acer are listed on the forums as suggestions.
i would not worry too much about contrast. most list dyamic contrast and do not list what they are testing.
first of all i would toss the notion of ultra low response times out the window. you do not want a tn panel which are the only panels offering 1-3ms timings. in general as long as the screen is of high quality and the absolute maximum response time is under 16ms you should be fine. my old viewsonic is listed at 16ms but likely is faster and it does not ghost. most new monitors are at least under 14.
for color range there really is only one choice. ips panels.
ips panels come in three four flavors. 6bit e-ips, 8bit s-ips and p-ips and 10bit h-ips. while technically capable of the same color accuracy of the lesser panels, some say e-ips does appear better. 8bit and 10bit models however can display more colors.
keep in mind that 8bit and 10bit ips panels only use ccfl backlighting and not led to my knowledge. they also might cost more.
e-ips while perhaps not as accurate as the other ips panels does have the advantage of being much cheaper. it also has the advantage of having the option of led backlighting to save power. since all ips panels have wide viewing angles i also would suggest them over tn and va panels especially for either large screens or multiscreen displays.
you can probably manage to find a pair of e-ips screens for $600-700 while a brand new 8bit ips screen might cost you as much for one. beware cheap knock off brands as even though on paper they are the same, the monitors are just not in the same league as the quality ones.
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