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Originally Posted by Doolittle81
Overall Game performance is based upon the combination of Graphics card and CPU capabilities,
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Yep, but only until you reach the limit of the one of those components. In this case, the CPU is not limited. You can check by noting the frame rate, and then simply (kinda) overclocking the CPU. If the speed increases, then you know the CPU was holding you back. If the speed doesn't increase, then the graphics card is holding you back and no amount of extra CPU power will help.
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Originally Posted by Doolittle81
One question I have is how does one specifically identify the cause of a reduction in FPS as being the "fault" of the Graphics card rather than other aspects of the PC, such as CPU, etc?
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It is also possible without overclocking though, if you can use a good internet forum and see people helping each other out, and sharing information. For Crysis for example, people have benchmarked the game on their PC with an 8800GTX and a dual core CPU at 2.4 ghz (and E6600 at stock speeds), but then they upgraded the CPU to a fast Quad Core, running at 3ghz, with the same graphics card, and the frame rate did not improve. Which just shows that the first CPU wasn't being fully used already. To be double sure, they then overclocked the graphics card, and the frame rate improved.
It is different for different games though, because some games are heavily CPU dependent. Simulations are often that way, although even a lot of the simulations I've played recently, have not been limited by these modern dual core CPU's at about 2.4ghz. The graphics card sadly... is a limit
Which no doubt, is why the overclocked ones (the "Ultra") sell quite well and often people get better performance in games with those cards, even compared to an 8800GTX.
(Some people just overclock their 8800GTX's. It is actually quite easy to do, but it is pretty risky to do that to something so expensive).
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Originally Posted by Doolittle81
Meanwhile, as I understand it, some Games are (and others will be) designed to take advantage of SLI...if that were the case, then is it not possible that two 8800's could serve fairly favorably iin comparison to a single 9800 series card?
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I doubt it And ultimately, benchmarks will prove it either way. When these cards are released nowdays, there are many websites who review them thoroughly and compare them not only to existing cards, but to existing cards run in SLI. 
They then display all the scores in a really good graph. So you'll get your answer in a matter of months.
My guess though, (based on the past), is that SLI is not really ideal. It definitely does increase your speed, but unfortunately it isn't double, it is more like 50% or so. (Varies a lot). So two 8800GTX's for example, will only really give the speed of about one and a half 8800GTX's. The speed of the 9800's, is said to be two or three times faster than an 8800Ultra. Massive :O We won't know exactly until closer to their release time, but either way, they will be super fast.
That may not matter to many people though, if the games you play run well with an 8800GTX - then the 9800 won't matter But if someone wants to play something that an 8800GTX/Ultra can't handle, then the new cards will be an option for them. It is quite a big price to pay though :O
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Originally Posted by Doolittle81
I intend to double my RAM in the next few weeks just for the heck of it (VISTA eats up a lot of RAM), though I've actually experienced no problems that I am aware of due to lack of RAM. Again, in my case I see nothing coming down the road of interest to me which will necessitate upgrading further, graphics card-wise...with the possible exception being the SOW:BofB flight sim, which is being designed for OGL, not DX10....In thqt regard, the latest version of OGL (3.0) under development is being cited as simply requiring a DX10-capable card.
All in all, I remain quite optimistic for the future (18 months) of my Rig with the 8800 card(s).
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That game looks really nice. I have no idea how well it will work on our cards though, but I think it will probably handle pretty well. I think 4 gig of RAM will work nicely for you in Vista (assuming it is Vista 64?). I rarely use Vista, but I read that in the 64bit version, going from 2 to 4 gig can actually make some nice improvements in a lot of games and apps. And DDR2 ram is very cheap nowdays, so it is a great time to buy.