[cowwithbeans]

Could anyone tell me which of the two options is the better for Windows gaming?

I use Final Cut Studio a lot, but I'm using an older iMac right now and it runs fine, so I'm not hugely concerned with that, I guess.

I can't find any information on the 4 ATi cards performance and I'm guessing if I was to run Windows games, only 2 of them would be used, so a single 8800 would probably outperform there.

My only other question is, can two 8800's be put into a single Mac Pro? I'm guessing not, but I can't find anything on that, either :|

Thanks in advance for any answers.

[Leonard]

The only reason you would get 4 ATI 2600's for a Mac Pro running MacOS X is to run 8 monitors. Ie. you don't get more cards for performance, but to run more monitors. MacOS X doesn't support SLI or Crossfire.

[Simon]

For Windows gaming? Clearly the 8800GT.

R2600 X2* are the two 2600 w/ Crossfire.

You can put two 8800s in one MP. You have two 16x 2.0 slots and two 4x 1.0 slots. Make sure to put the cards in the 16x slots for best performance.

OS X does not support SLI/Crossfire. Crossfire has however successfully been demonstrated on a MP with Vista 64.

[mduell]

To add to Simon's post, the Mac Pro doesn't support SLI (in Windows or OS X or Linux), so installing two 8800s is just for 4 monitors, not improved performance.