i'm still in the research phase... if you were just starting out, would you build a rig or just buy certain coins on an exchange?
Rather than building a GPU rig for altcoins, I would suggest you directly jump over the next stage, scrypt ASIC. GPU mining of most altcoins is going to be out the door in a few weeks. If I were you with some decent money, I'd order a KNC Titan scrypt ASIC or Fibonacci chips and start mining Litecoins when I receive it. Meanwhile you can do the buy-sell trading. And if you have a couple of GPUs you want to utilize right now, point them to some X11 coins such as DarkCoin.
If you can't do that, set up a GPU rig and mine ASIC resistant coins. Scrypt-n and X11 are good for now. As they become more profitable, the ASIC makers will try to hit them too.
And most important of them all.... DO NOT get emotional over a coin. That wil fuck with your judgement... see them as "brands" in a supermarket. Some are in sleek packaging but are like lays.... a few crisps and a lot of air. Some are ugly as shit, but you will be surprised at the exotic ingredients it might have. Be ready to buy coins whose devs and community you cannot stand... and similarly sell the coins that you held for over a month. Play our cards right and you will make back your money within 6 months (including paying electricity bills)... the rest is pure profit once you have your cost recovered. 
