This is a question, or at least a similar one to what I have been asking myself. What is the level of comparison between the AMD and Intel models? I hear that even though a Pentium may be rated faster in the CPU speed area, the AMD makes up for it in the bus speed and other facets. I am still pretty new to the world of AMD. Due to a motherboard going bad I had recently switched from my previous setup;
P4 3.06ghz Hyperthreaded CPU
Asus P4T533-C mobo
1GB Rambus
BFG GeForceFX 5900XT OC 128mb
to my new setup;
AMD Athlon64 3200+
Asus A8V Pro mobo
2GB PC3200
Asus GeForce 6600GT 128mb
It is a very noticable difference, yeah more then the CPU contributed to that. I had a very significant upgrade in gaming performance in HL2, Doom3, SWG, EQ2. Overall I am very happy with my new setup and my eyes have been opened to the world outside Intel (not saying Intel is bad, it is all I used for many years).
I was even able to take the left over parts and replace the wifes old 1ghz AMD system with;
P4 3.06ghz Hyperthreaded CPU
RSRock mobo
1GB PC3200
BFG GeForceFX 5900XT OC 128mb