Ok, yet another update...
I just talked to MonarchJoe for about 10 minutes and here's the scoop on things (past and present).
First of all, he said that their supply of GS are running out. Previously, most of their cards are GSs. Now, he said that less than 20% of the cards are GSs because of so many people ordering them. I asked him about actual numbers and he said that now he only has about 10 GSs left (total guesstimate). Still, he said that he is still TRYING to hook up the people who send in emails asking for the GS and give the non-GS to those who don't mention anything about it. But at this point in time, he's simply just running out and you should definitely expect to get the non-GS and be really happy if you land the GS.
Secondly, the non-GS cards ARE dual-DVI. He said he opened one up just to make sure.
Ok, now that you're up to date on the present status of things, here is basically what happened before that made this deal happen in the first place:
Monarch made a large purchase of 6800GT cards from Gainward directly (non-GS). They ended up shipping some non-GS and some GS. Monarch called Gainward up and informed them of that and Gainward said, "Just keep them." So Monarch made the decision to sell them all as non-GS cards and pass on Gainward's mistake to their customers. So if you got a GS out of this deal, it was due to Gainward's mistake and Monarch's decision to not charge more for them.
Now to why they have the GS listed seperately. Well, basically, it was because people were demanding it. As for the price of it, that is just their initial stab at the price - IT WILL COME DOWN. The impression he gave me was that he would be shocked if it was still close to $444 in a week from now.
Ok, I think that's all I know...
Overall, I think Monarch has proven their quality to me as a vendor. I've never purchased from them before nor have I with this (waiting for EQ2 to upgrade) but they have been very open about what has been going on with this and the fact that they knowingly made this deal available to all of us really impresses me. Next time I go to buy hardware, Newegg isn't the only first place for me to look now.
p.s. no, I don't work there