Undoubtedly, SLI / CF will have a lower cost per frame than the top end single card. Looking at the numbers, you can't even make a sensible argument to the contrary.
Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:
The 560 Ti - 900 Mhz got 862 fps in SLI for $420 at a cost of $0.49 per frame
The 580 got 616 fps as a single card for $500 at a cost of $0.73 per frame
Easy win for the SLI ..... 40% more performance and 580's cost per frame is 49% more
The 6870 got 701 fps inCF for $310 at a cost of $0.44 per frame
The 6970 got 526 fps as a single card for $340 at a cost of $0.65 per frame
Easy win for CF ..... 33% more performance and 580's cost per frame is 47% more
Using more modern cards ..... Hardware.Info uses AvP High 4AA, Batman AC Very High 4AA, BF3 Ultra High 4AA, Crysis 2 Ultra High Edge AA, Dirt 3 Ultra 4AA, Hard Reset Ultra 4AA, Metro 2033 Very High, Skyrim High 4AA and Shogun 2 Ultra 4AA
The 660 Ti got 932.3 fps inCF for $580 at a cost of $0.62 per frame
The 680 got 711.2 fps as a single card for $480 at a cost of $0.67 per frame
Microstutter in my experience is something somebody read about on a forum somewhere but didn't read about the part where it was tested on a pair of $120 GFX cards. I have never seen microstutter or screen tearing, etc on any screen (including the 120 Hz models) where the card cost was > $200. I built 14 SLI systems in the past year, 2 single card systems, one of which the owner has already upgraded