If you actually apply some lateral thinking, this whole problem is rather silly. If the native res of a 24inch monitor was 1280x720, so no scaling was involved, the image would look just as bad. There is no miracle cure to scaling up an image. CRT monitors are generally smaller than LCD, so its a mute point (I have a 22inch CRT and its as high as a 22inch 16:10 LCD, i.e. considerably smaller). Just use 1:1 pixel mapping, run the game in 1680x1050 and you won't have a problem. The 9600GT can run every game in that res or higher, so I don't see a problem. Ideally 24 inch monitors would have the resolution of the 30inch. I would much rather have a higher dot pitch monitor than the current ones.
Now the real problem with LCDs is their displaying of dark colours/blacks. A screen which creates light sources rather than filters one big one will always be superior in that regard.
EDIT: If you have a problem with the 1:1 scaling size, just sit closer... I game with my Xbox 360 on my 24inch LCD with 1:1 mapping. I've tried the internal Xbox Scaler and the one insider the monitor and they both produce an identical result. In the end I had two choices, sit closer with 1:1 or sit further away with scaling. I chose 1:1 as its on my desk.
