With direct drive, I would say it doesn’t make a difference.
For bowden there is a benefit.
I also think that direct drive is superior to Bowden setups in nearly every situation. The current generation like the Orbiter v3 is a very light direct-drive extruder.
Don’t buy anything you can’t afford. Sounds like you already got that part right. :)
If so good 3D-printer are lower cost than ever. Sure you could pick up an used Ender 3 and the like for $50 and put in the elbow grease to learn like it was done in the old days. Alternative is spending $200 on an BambuLab A1 and skip most of the learning curve.
If you can handle frustration than a cheapo used printer could be a good option. Please ask before purchasing as not every $50 printer is a good deal/option and as a newbie you can’t distinguish the good from the bad.
Use ASA. PETG will creep.
ASA will creep significantly less. If you have fibre-filled materials they also excel in this regard but are probably overkill here.
PETG will creep even at temperatures below 80°C and the higher the temperature is the faster the process is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creep_(deformation)
I have a small collection of parts that all experienced creep (as a showcase). Structurally they where all fine in simulation and practice. Over time they all failed due this deformation.
JLC3DP
Go the other way and buy 3mm tubing and see what it does :)
Fair enough bowden has a lot of issues like filament compression (which can’t be fixed with tubing) making it difficult to maintain a steady flow when conditions aren’t steady (e.g. acceleration and so on).
With larger diameter tubes the issue of filament compressing gets worse. In a nutshell, a larger tube diameter for “rigid” materials somewhat is similar to the effect of a softer filament/material.