I'm buying AM2 because;
a) The 3800x2 is a very good price. £90 for a cpu, ~100 for the board. Compared with what, 130-150 for the lowest conroe [markup will be quite big in the first few months] and probably around the same for a good board, the DFI NF590 is expected at 135. I admit however that this saving will probably go into RAM.
b) I like nforce 590. a lot. And for obvious reasons I always think nforce chipsets work better with AMD products. Even way back in 2001 the NF220/440's usage of hypertransport is hard evidence of AMD working with NVIDIA as a major partner.
c) The current EPP memory technology by OCZ and Corsair does not extend to 533-677MHz RAM, which is synchronous for Conroe, as anything past the fsb gets bottlnecked anyway. [1066/4 Quad pump = 533/2 DDR] Since I am not yet confident in my overclocking skills enough to tinker too much with a brand new £700-1k system [my Athlon 2800 is my training station], EPP is a great feature for me. And will be for many other users.
d) The AM2 will take greater advantage of future DDR2 technology due to its integrated controller. It will extend beyond the reaches of Conroe's bottleneck, when the time comes. Fast memory with tight timings, which are crucial to AM2 systems is becoming more and more available. OCZ are a great example.
e) AM2 offers a very clear, simple upgrade path. CPU, board, RAM. Simple. Take it in stages, when you have the money.
Now I know Conroe performs better. That is a fact. Perhaps, with the right components it will cost the same as well. I am by no means an idiot, but when I look at what AM2 has to offer me, while it may not be performance, it is what I want. Afterall, a good old 4400X2 or overclocked 3800X2 isn't exactly slow, they're still very good CPUs.