Hello to all

in search for some info about those ips models ,I saw this thread and woow 400+ pages !
I try to be brief .. Im trying to upgrade from my old LCD monitor.. my plan is to use one of this ips for digital work (photoshop and etc) and some gaming .. I have a few doubts/questions ,some Im sure they where already answered so my apologize ,..
1 as far I know there s not a lot of differences between models (speaking about performance) ,the differences are just esthetic right?
is there something that I missed ? or a specific model that I should avoid ?
2 at this moment Im also building a new pc.. and Im about tu by a new graphic card .. Im between amd 7970 and gtx 680 .. is there any model between this more suitable to this kind of IPS monitors or they are just fine ? (I read somewhere that mad 7970 are more better ..)
3 in gaming: ( its not a biig deal for me but I like to play time to time

is there a BIG difference compared to another tn model more faster? I mean ,.. technically there are .. but in real life gaming.. is a huge difference ? or more like .. meeh
also.. I have an Xbox 360 .. my plan is to connect it to this monitor ( which is the one IM planning to buy ) : ¨¨New ACHIEVA Shimian QH270-IPSMS HDMI DVI-D VGA 27 ¨¨ vga--> vga port and the audio to my speakers.. is this ok or theres another way ?
all this fuzz is because I want to be sure,..and also at least for a year this would be my monitor for almost everything

.. so once again I know that some questions are very basic .. but I want to double check to be sure.
thanks
Vlad