Well I'm thinking of spending about 700-800 right off the bat. Do you think I should go AMD or one of the newer Intel processors?
EDIT: cwa, I think I'm going to go with an AMD quad-core processor, just having some trouble picking out the right processor and motherboard. Can anyone suggest something that could be on budget for a $800 computer? The motherboard doesnt' really need to have any video output even though most of them do. USB ports aren't a big concern for me, I don't have too many peripherals, so I don't need a ton of them.
Every time I think about my next system, I always say "I'm gonna go AMD next time", but when push comes to shove, for whatever reason, I always stick with Intel. The chipsets, sockets and naming schemes for their processors just seem to click with me. I often find myself confused when trying to figure out AMD's latest components and what is compatible with what.
If I were building one right now, I'd be going for a Core i5 or i7 with an AMD Radeon 5870 card. The video card is much more important than the CPU in terms of gaming, so I'd probably go with the more budget-minded CPU and spend more money on the video card. I also wouldn't do dual video cards until you actually see how the system performs with the games you play -- you can always add a second one in Crossfire if push comes to shove, just make sure your motherboard supports it before you commit to a particular model.
As far as motherboards go, I tend to buy Gigabyte. I like their solid state capacitors and overall designs. ASUS makes a nice MB too. MSI seems to have quite a following, but I don't have much personal experience with them.
Another tip - spend good money on a very good power supply from companies like PC Power & Cooling or Antec. Cheap, knock-off PSUs are often rated with a very high peak output, but in reality they can't handle that kind of sustained output. Buy a power supply that will outlive your motherboard and is overkill for your components. This way you won't have to buy another one down the road.