@sharan Started out with Mint and it worked fine. No noteworthy issues. But Cinnamon feels old and dated. I've since switched to Fedora KDE Plasma and feel like KDE brings actual advantages over Windows. Like I also have a SSD with Windows on it, just as an option (to run the few couple of programs I can't got to work on any of the distros I've tried). But I find myself wanting to use the SSD with GNU/Linux in day to day use because of KDE. It's so nice to use!
@spaceg Depending on how long before you need a GPU upgrade you could wait until then and the buy AMD next time :) Though you don't need AMD hardware to make it work. I have a NVidia GPU currently in my PC and both Mint and Fedora has worked fine for me :)
@Gina If you have a good desktop PC with Steam you can stream the game to your new Steam Deck. Has worked really well for me, though I've only used it while both was on home WiFi, for when I'd just rather game from the living room couch 😊