Phenoms are still a better chip, no argument on that but they are not cheap either. I try to build economy boxes for grandma and the like for the $300.00 range. I am able to put Antec 520w psu's in them and I can get samsung dvd's for the $16. range. Newegg has a Blackbone case for $35 (when on sale). It's a fairly plain jane case but nobody complains and it's sturdy.
I try to get quantity parts when they go on sale at newegg. Those Antec psu's go for $40. with free ship. I can get 3 at a time so my wife gets 3 also. My back up psu's are the 430w corsairs. I can build with some quality parts so hopefully I'll have some happy clients. These are not gaming rigs and I'm upfront about that too but they can be upgraded with the AM3+ boards. A 4100 FX with a biostar A880GZ board goes for $160. When peeps are looking for cheap in this economy, they do not seem to mind not having usb 3.0 port either