However, I think the 9600GT is an exception to your rule. I believe that the 9600GT in SLi actually performs much better than previous SLi combinations. It is proven on many of the popular games to boost performance to almost match that of 1 9800GX2. If the benchmarks say the GTX is better accross the board, I would go with that, but if the 9600GT's in SLi are better, why not choose that and save a little?