ATI cards tend to blow up less than nvidia, nvidia last a year on average only

its better to get one fast GPU as you said not many games support dual GPU's, always get cards with rear exhausts to keep the temps in the case down

 

Never had an Nvidia break, but had 2 ATI's break, varies more with manufacturer than chipset IMHO.

 

I've had nVidia's break but never had an ATi break

 

my 6800 GT has been in two of my self builds. still going nearly seven years later

 

Saying that it was a laptop GFX card.

 

2 nvids broke no ATi, I see a pattern evolving

 

Well laptop cards break due to heat and crappy brittle lead free solder, get them reballed with leadded solder and they are top notch.

Nvidia had issues a lot with laptops due to this, Dell XPS machines are particularly prone on the 8700 series, but they resolved the issue long after the laptop went out of production

I have a very old 8800GTX in my HTPC which served hard service in the gaming rig before being relegated to my living room home theatre, still running without issue.