also, if you can provide links to some websites for best way to procure mining equipment, i'd appreciate it.
I think the best altcoin to mine is Ethereum and Ripple because they are more stable than other crypto currency . They already rises for Ethereum almost 6% and Ripple almost 10%.This shows that they are best for mining nowadays . Unlike Ethereum and Ripple you need to take into account that some coins and altcoins are just junk and wont be worth the time you spent on mining them.
Just by the way: Ripple is not a minable cryptocurrency.
Ethereum is the most profitable for many GPUs (can be dual-mined with other currencies like XVG) but some GPUs reach higher hashrates on other algorithms like CryptonightV7 etc.