You still can assemble a good and quality AMD rig based on AM3. It's not like your missing the boat on something here. AMD Cpu's can handle all games, programs, encoding and all the other things you need todo, just a little slower and for a lower price.
4+1 VRM design does'nt tell anyone here wether it's bad or good. Low quality motherboards dont need 8 / 12 VRM phase design. You dont need a large VRM design either if the goal is just to assemble a usable computer without overclocking and stuff. As long as it works on basic stuff it's alright.
AM3 still oc's better then any intel counterpart. Add some DDR3/1600 memory, a fast SSD, a good graphics card and your good to go. You still have money in the pocket by not going for intel and able to buy something extra such as a headset, gaming mouse and what else.
I still run on a classic Thuban X6 on 4GHz. It whoops X8 Vishera's ass on IPC. It does run all games i want and it suits me for my 60 hours weekly working.