"Also, what is the test bed for the second set of data? the benchmarks are taken from completely different sites so it is not a like-for-like comparison. As much as I would like to see AMD on top again, I'm gonna have to call BS on this one."
I know (sorry); actually the setup was better for the Nvidia boards, so in 'real life' R680 should be better than the difference you see.
"They already have....
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/05/exclusive_nvidia_geforce_9800gx2"
Hate to disappoint you, but that's not really the next generation - it's a rebadged dual 8800GT, which the R680 has a chance of matching due to a better dual-GPU driver and closer to native fabrication (two cards on one PCB vs. two PCBs).
Ubuntu. Linux for human beings.
If you are interested in trying Ubuntu or Linux in general, PM me and I will answer your questions and help you install it if you wish.
