Computer Woes: Envision Monitor Setup Headache

This is finally the completion of my quest to get my newly repaired two-month old monitor to work again. To recap, and to complete the story, I'm simply going to list the bullet points, just in case anyone else has to go through the same thing.

• I bought my new Envision G22LWk 22" wide screen flat panel LCD monitor on Dec. 28, 2007. Going out of business sale at CompUSA, $250. . .sweet!
• After installation, the monitor worked flawlessly, at a perfect resolution for blogging, drawing, web-surfing, whatever I wanted (I'm not a gamer).
• After two months, the monitor sputtered and died.
• After determining the procedure, I reinstalled my old 19" non-wide screen Dell LCD, and shipped the 22" to the shop for $15 (UPS shipping).
• On a whim, while using the 19" monitor, I installed a "Windows Vista Lookalike" program. It's pretty cool, and apes Vista very well.
• The Envision arrives about 10 days after I shipped it. Not bad.
• Remembering the "Vista" installation was for 4:3 monitors, I uninstall the lookalike pack. Everything is still fine.
• I unplug my 19" and plug in the 22" and start the computer up. The monitor works, but the image is distorted.
• Trying everything in my arsenal, as well as everything I can think of in Google, I simply cannot change the screen resolution to the 1680 x 1050 I need. It's either horrifically stretched images, over sized and jagged images, or undersized tiny images. No happy medium.
• I decided to go to Fry's and purchase a graphics card. I know that I have an available PCI slot, and a "PCI-Express" slot (PCI-E, which I'm unfamiliar with). They tell me the PCI-E x16 will work, even though I ask about the x16 part. I'm assured it will fit.
• It doesn't. I have a PCI-E x1. I take the card back and exchange it for a plain old PCI card (EVGA e-GeForce FX 5200) that I know will fit. They tell me that the 1680 x 1050 resolution is surely supported.
• Once installed, the monitor would go black after Windows started. My old card cannot be disabled. So, I got out the old 17" screen, hooked it up at the same time, and fiddled with the display settings until the 22" was the default monitor. But now, the resolution won't set right.
• 1600 x 1020 was as close to my resolution as it would go, and it looked fuzzy and terrible. Ready to scream, I futzed with some settings (in the EVGA software, not the Windows display settings) and finally, finally found a place to set custom resolutions. I typed in 1680 x 1050, and viola! it's perfect and beautiful again.

Both times I went to Fry's, the salesmen tried to point me toward super-expensive flashy graphics cards I don't need. Neither time could they tell me which resolutions any of the cards could output. No place in the instructions is there much help for the monitor recognition and custom resolution problems I was having. And why did it take a brand new video card to replicate the way it originally displayed before the monitor pooped out?

I'm a fiddle-farter with computers. I like to roll up my sleeves and get my feet wet (heh). What does everyone else do in these situations?

Previously:
Computer Upgrades: Good News for a Change!
Computer Woes: New Envision Monitor Gone Kaput
Computer Woes: Envision Monitor Returned