Didnt know AMD's new chips sucks hmm. Anyways id go with AMD anyday over Pentium chips (though I do have a Pentium 2.4gig chip).
If you have the money I suggest the dual processors from AMD the Xeons. You can get like 5Ghz i think
As far as price is concerened AMD holds the crown the P4 might be faster but heck when were talking the difference between a 2.4gig+ you cant even tell, as NOTHING requires that speed anyways. Stick with the AMD's in my opinions cos you can tweak those bad boys.
For graphics card stay away from Nvidia (cheating bastards they are). If youve read any comp news lately Nvidia cheated in the 3dmark tests to make it seem their card is superior to the ATI one. Granted its probably slightly faster but screw that! Ati have really done well in the last year im running with a 9700 pro and its amazing and they are down in price these days as the 9800 came out. Do not bother with the 256mb 9800 from ati wait till the next gen 256 cards come out, plus no game even needs that the 9700 pro and even the last Geforce4's do the job perfectly.
Yes like BG said DONT get an onboard graphics or sound card system. Integrated stuff SUCKS ASS.
Also if you can afford it make your system SCSI(scuzzy), its faster tho i hear firewire is even faster. Heh i should get back into building again lol.
IF u have any more questions shoot.