2 Seperate video Cards for Dual monitors or single? Performance impact rendering FCP?

[O and A]

I'm looking at getting a new mac pro quad to serve as a video editing system

We want dual monitor setup but are curious to know if it is better performance wise to have 2 video cards to power each monitor or Just upgrade to the ATI card for 249 more.

I know the ATI card is better but will the dual monitor setup affect rendering times vs. having a single monitor?

Would I get better performance from 2 NVIDIA cards? Or is having the second card irrelevant to Final Cut Pro and Motion?

I realize some of this is CPU reliant but I'd like to get the best performance for anything the GPU has to render. (too bad apple didn't upgrade the darn video card options )

Sorry if anything isn't clear let me know so i can help you help me.

Thanks in advance!

 

[yippy]

The ATI card with two monitors has more power than two of the Nvidia 7300s so I would go that rout.

Also, rendering is nearly completely CPU dependent so the graphics cards don't make much, if any, difference.

 

[Dreadnought]

You can also put two Ati cards in there, Then you'll only have space for one single slot left. Also you'll have to configure them both as 8 speeds instead of one 16 and the other 4 or 1. Furthermore, don't mix the two different cards, like an Ati and Nvidea. I have read reports that it would slow performance on both cards.