Switching to Linux and Getting an APU

So, it's getting near time to build a new PC. My current one still works, but it has become a bit of a Frankenstein system over the years. The motherboard, CPU, and RAM have been there since its first iteration was assembled in 2011. Since then, video cards have slowly been cycled into it, there have been a couple of HDD swaps, and it has a relatively new power supply. Nevertheless, those core elements of the board, processor, and RAM are really starting to show their age, and I'm not sure how much longer I'll use the system as a daily driver.

As a result, I've been perusing components to build a new PC from the ground up. This time around, though, I'm considering a couple of things that I haven't until now. First, there is a very good chance that the OS I go with will be Linux. Which specific distro remains to be seen, but at this point there doesn't appear to be much reason to use Windows. I've been wanting to move to Linux for a while, but it was only halfway there for my uses. Applications-wise, it's basically fine and has alternatives for anything that I might use in a Windows environment. Up until recently, the one thing holding me back was how well games run on it.