you have answered your own question.
AMDs are better than intels.
for example i have a tv tuner card requireing a 2.2Ghz CPU to function, however my AMD sempron is 2Ghz and it works with the tv tuner almost flawlessly, the only problem i have is i'm in a weak signal area so the tv picture is intemittent (even on a normal TV).
I only USE and will always only use an AMD CPU in my computer systems, they provide and have always provided the most reliable system on the market today.
old AMDs decades ago did burn out quickly but all those bugs have been worked out and that was as a result of tweakers overclocking the processors (forcing the processor to run faster than it is designed to run).
you will need to build your own system by assembling all the parts to get the best performing and most reliable system you can get.
you need a high quality motherboard, an AMD CPU, the RAM compatible for your mother board the faste the better and seagate hard drives. if you want gaming then you will need a high quality GPU (gaming GPUs can cost £200 and over for a decent card).
but you can get a basic system with basic VGA built in to the motherboard.
so depending on the actual specification you need a complete tower only can run you from £500 to £5000
plus your high quality display panel and othe peripherals this could add another couple of thousand on to the overall price as could allowing a grand or two for a quality UPS (uninteruptable power supply).
Remmeber when building your perfect system to get a PSU (power supply unit) that has more power than your system demands typically allowing a minimum of 20% extra power will provide for a more stable computer system.
speaking having built three amd based systems in the last two years. and next year i'm planning to build an AMD based dedicated hi specification Server system. (if i can afford it as the server systems i plan to build will run me for the two servers and an UPS around £15000. to £20,000) and to be a dedicated web host will run me at £500 per month minimum.
a lot of money when you currently have none.
any processor regarding of brand will have a reduced life span when over clocked.
i hope this insite from a system builder helps.
and remeber intel may seem to have a higher clock speed but that does not mean that because the number is higher that the system is going to be faster or better.
my 2ghz system with 1.5GB RAM running windows XP home is currentl;y being used as a webserver, ftp server and email server. it idols at around 0-5% CPU power. and when transfering files my system can turn windows estimated minutes into seconds (1 estimated minute = 1 actual second) on average.
so i'd have to say my system is operating better than peak performance.
it does also help regardless of chipset to run registry clean expert once or twice a week (registry-clean.net) as well as a high quality firewall and malware detection and defence suite, as well as running defrag and diagnostics frequently. as does cleaning out the web browsers history logs and other data.
registry clean will clean out not just your registry it can erase other data.
adaware can also help you to clean up your computer system.
see www.lavasoft to get your copy of adaware free version or the profession which cost a little money.
good luck.