Building VS Buying in the eyes of a newbie

Helloooo. I have recently been given an AMD 6970. Installing the card made me realize how outdated my 2008 system is and prompted me to look for computer parts for building a computer from the ground up. But the plethora of computer parts and thousands of variations on their titles made me remember why I bought this 2008 machine from IBUYPOWER.com (IBP)

Seriously. Just to name three
"ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX"
"Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850"
"Apevia ATX-AQ700W-BK"

To me, that stuff is gibberish amongst a sea of computer hardware. I don't know what to build on, I don't know what to buy to get the my money's worth. On IBP, it's as simple as picking my Custom Computer configuration choice of AMD or Intel and working from there. My friends all tell me NOT to use IBP because it's cheaper to build on my own. I believe them, but IBP is much, MUCH less complex to someone like me.

I don't want to spend more than $2000, and I feel I won't need to if I decided to use IBP or built it on my own. I WANT to build a computer on my own, but it's not as simple as "building an AMD system" or "NVIDIA/intel system". Especially since there's so much variety among the prices and names of the computer components, I really don't know what to do.

I understand AMD is cheaper at the cost of performance, but if their products can deliver a PC that won't need upgrades for years, then I am all for it. I am not a PC elitist, I just want a computer that can handle these newer games like Skyrim, Far Cry, and Guild Wars 2 without the excessive pricing of a god-tier computer.

Please, give me guidance u_u