I just built a computer for a friend of mine, and used an AMD 8350 and it runs faster than my i7 2600K (just from eyeballing it, nothing scientific or that I looked up).
But the AMD 8350 CPU was bundled with a motherboard at Micro Center that was either free or maybe only $20, and the CPU was less than $150, so this was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper for still really really great performance.
I DO agree that Intel makes faster CPU's, however for bang for the buck, I would choose AMD most of the time - the difference in cost between an AMD 8350 and a $300 i7 AND the difference between a bundled free of maybe $20 motherboard versus a couple hundred for an Intel motherboard for an i7, means that if I go the AMD 8350 (or whatever model), you can get 16 GB of memory and a 240 GB SSD with what is saved by going AMD.
Bob Bone