As you probably know Charles, AMD is WAY BEHIND right now. I hated the k6-2, but when the K7 hit the market it was comparable. I have had athlons in my last two gaming rigs, due to lower costs and higher performance, as well as overclocking ability. Now, with Core 2 duos, quads, etc......AMD is left in the dust.
Gaming benchmarks tell the story at stock speeds, and overclockers everywhere can tell you the era of the Celeron 300A overclocking days are back. Nobody thought we'd ever see another 300A, but Core 2 Duos exemplify the error of our ways (in saying "never again").
Power consumption has never been an issue for me, nor has reducing noise for that matter. I can accept some ambient noise, because I'm wearing headphones almost always while the puter is under load.
My last system was a 3400+, because I didn't have the dough to buy the Core 2 Duos...they started at $225 at the time I bought my $70.00 3400+. It was a no brainer for a poor guy like me.
If you need an office machine for mundane tasks....either proc will do. On the other hand, if you wanna clock the thing til the cows come home, ride it hard with high end gaming, and toss it like a salad when you've killed it from too many volts or too much heat....INTEL, BABY!
Hope you enjoy my rant. BTW, I have no affiliation with either company, I'm for whoever has the fastest solution in my price range with overclocking never far from my decision.
Tony