At that prrce range I don;t think the price drops will make much difference. the big cuts from what I've read are the e6xxxx range.
I'd still go AMD as the x2 will still be cheaper and the mobo will be cheaper.
x2 3600+ (there's only a 5% performance diff between ths and the 3800+)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103046
$62
or for $8 more
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103774
$70
Asus M2n mx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131183
$55
case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811164040
$25
PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817128005
$50
Ram 1 gig
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211062
$43
All up that's 235, but here's the kicker, IF (big if) he/she does any gaming and already has a dvd burner and HDD you can go one of two ways.
1. Overclock the CPU, buy a better heatsink, buy an additional gig of ram, and a cheaper video card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130075 I've gotten the X2 3600+ to 2.4 stable,
2. Overclock the cpu, buy a better heatsink, and get the best of this generation of video cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130056
Note o/c is optional particularly on the x2 4000
If not gaming or your not comfortable doing it, well don't overclock. If you're just watching movies etc get
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130089
and get some quiet fans
Personally I'd go x2 4000+, 2 gig and a 7900gs for gaming. Most games are more dependent on the GPU anyway. Should be doable for $350
but if they need a hdd and a burner, well get the biggest sata hdd you can get and the cheapest burner you can find. Forget gaming. although you could try to use the onboard vid card which is rather meh
You could go the intel route but you'll need to cut more corners