you can't compare a 24h wheel to a 32h wheel, they're not going to be built for the same purpose.
a conventional 32h 3x wheel isn't so strong. what's really good, I hear, is a 36h 3x crow's foot drive side and regular 2x NDS.
it might be $7 for 8 2.0/1.8mm DB spokes, but try using DT aerolites or sapim C-Xrays which are $5 per spoke, that's $40 saved.
A really good comparison will be between a 16:8, 2.38x DS/1.67x heads in NDS and a 24h 3x crow's foot DS/2x NDS rear wheels.