investing in mining company much better then investing in equipment. but it has substantial risk too, if you own equipment it is your. Just today one trader went lose with 700 btc of investors money. Good, I did not invested, but was considering. I invested about 2 months ago in
https://btct.co/security/ASICMINER-PT and it been quite good so far. Much better then compared to mining.
buying GPUs and making farm very technically demanding process, if not planed from step one properly, many things can go wrong. But mining LTC twice more profitable, compared to btc.
from equipment, best option is bitfury with delivery in October
http://www.bitfurystrikesback.com/product/25gh-miner-starter-kit-october-delivery/ fit your budget too. And later you can buy more mining modules and attach it easily to this starer kit.