Preparing for Ether difficulties

Anyone who's mining Ether at the moment is probably aware of two forthcoming problems; 1. The DAG file is expected to go above 3Gb around April 2018, and, 2. Ether mining is expected to go to a Proof of Stake setup some time next year. While I have yet to setup my first mine, I'm going to be ordering my parts on August 1st, and so these too are concerns which I have. So, what can be done to mitigate potential issues?

Well, for me personally, I'm looking at a two-stage approach, that I would appreciate any additional input on.

1. GPU selection

My initial plan was to go with a slew of 3Gb GTX 1060s. They've been proven to be very efficient and economical, and at face value, they look great, especially as there is arguably no reason to go for the 6Gb version, other than avoiding the DAG issue. Upon revision, the plan is to go for 12 x 1050 Ti. They're 4Gb, and as cheap as it gets. So 12 x 1050 Ti is actually giving me a better return than 4 x 1060. Opinions?

2. Mine something else

I'm looking for a good backup coin to mine. ZCash/ZCash Classic seem to be pretty good right now, but I'm not sure if there's a better option.

Any comments or suggestions?