With AMD, also my preference, you could use the board you selected with a AMD X2 CPU and have an awesome machine. Carefully examine the difference in specs and cost. You can go dual core for $9 more, doubling your cpu power.
AMD64 FX-55 $239.00
2.6GHz
Single-Core
L1 Cache 64KB+64KB
L2 Cache 1MB
<--link $248.00
2.4GHz per Core
Dual-Core
L1 Cache 128KB+128KB
L2 Cache 2 x 1MB
Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs are much more expensive when you compare specs with AMD X2 so my advise is AMD all the way.
I cant say much about the ATI vid card. Im an Nvidia fan for pretty much the same reason im an AMD fan. Intel and ATI both make good products but when you dig in and research specs you can normally get more bang for your buck with Nvidia and AMD.
I appreciate your reply so much, you see I was leaning towards AMD but I have never used an AMD before I have always had Intel and have an Intel currently, so thank you for kinda sweaping my fears of change away. I really like the cpu you showed the link of and I've decided to get it but since the retail is on back order I'm getting the OEM and buyin a heatsink and fan seperate. I am really excited about building a pc for the first time. I have watched alot of tutorials and even watched my brother in law build one but never tried. I am going to stick with the ATI card simply because I like it and kind of have my heart set on it, should be a great pc once I get everything put together. Should be VERY sweet for gaming.... c'mon that gfx card + 4GB of RAM + that cpu.... wow just wow lol thats all I can say. Not to mention the pc I'm on now I ordered from Dell and it costed 1,500 and that was 3 years ago, the one I'm building will only be 2,000 with shipping fees so I think thats a pretty good price to pay for something I wont have to upgrade for a while ;)
I have no one else to talk to about my pc cause my friends dunno what I'm talking about and my gf is sick of hearing it