Well Amd had its day with the gaming CPU market... But now its Intels turn

Go for a Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, 1.86 Ghz... Dont let the clock speed fool you. When overclocked (Which is very easy to do) it can out peform a AMD 64 FX 60... And thats the budget model. Heres a complete Core 2 Duo System around $800 which will kick all the AMD's out of the water.
Cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, 1.86 Ghz, Skt 775, 2 Mb L2 Cahe - $180
Mobo: Biostar 945PA7A, Skt 775, Pci-E x16, ATX - $79
Graphics: Leadtek GF 7600Gt, 256Mb, DDR3, 128 Bit, Pci-E x16 - $162
Ram: SimpleTech 1Gb DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) -$75
HDD: Western Digital 120Gb, 7200 Rpm, Ide - $55
Case: Apevia X-Infinity, Black Mid Tower, With 420 Watt Psu - $59
Optical: Samsung 18x DVD-R Burner - $30
Os: Windows Xp Home Edition With SP2 - $88
Keyboard & Mouse: BenQ Black Wireless Keyboard & Mouse - $30
Total: $758
This Cpu is a Excellent overclocker... You will get over 2.6GHz with stock cooling and voltages very easily... Have safe Build
This sytem wil run any game and will be great for smaller aps (iTunes, Internet Explorer, Firefox ect) and is very good value...
All this information was found on
www.newegg.com