first of all, trying to convince me to listen to you while at the same time telling me that forums provided garbage responses is more than a little silly.
second, i know crysis is a game, but a standard has been created that only the highest quality machines can run it, and the number of frames per second in that game is high on the list of things to look at when buying a new gaming card.
third, yes only certain games support sli but almost all modern games will, and those that don't can be played just fine using only 1 card.
fourth, my graphs and numbers, and all around praise for the 8800gt come from very reputable sources like tomshardware.com(which i believe you also referenced) and anandtech.com.
lastly, buying a dx10.1 card that can support up to 4 way crossfire it along the lines of buying a quad core for a gaming rig. that extra power is nice but will not improve no gaming programs due to the fact that barely any programs support dual core as of yet. not only that but i have a very health fear of new and untested technology, and given that problems with dx10 drivers, i don't really wanna fool around with dx10.1 yet.
I can see by your sig that you have already made up your mind about sli/crossfire, and that yoou would not make the decision i have, but please, make your case without calling everything i have said "GARBAGE."