Presume we are running a full node under some version of Linux. Let's say 2 to 3 Ghz clock rate, 16 Gig of memory, and nothing running but the Bitcoin full node software. About how much will the CPU be utilized? Will it be fairly steady? Or I suspect with significant peaks for each block that is validated and stored?
I mostly use Windows, but, am quite certain that Linux is much better at this task.
If you are running a full node, please advise as to some of your system specifications.
After the full blockchain has been gathered and stored, what is the average and peak network bandwidth?
Thank you for your time and patience.
I don't collect system metric, so i can't answer any of your questions. But you can get rough estimation by checking website
https://statoshi.info and select "System Metrics". You'll need to contact owner of that website to know which hardware is used though.
There are no direct
financial advantages! A slight difference to no advantage at all, which weirdly enough are listed on that article you linked.
Also, cooling your house from running a node? Common!

There's some money involved if you run a lightning node, but this requires owning bitcoin, so I doubt that's what OP is asking about and what he's able to do at the moment.
Money that could be earned from routing LN transaction is extremely low and probably can't even cover electricity cost of the PC/laptop. Check this thread,
The Lightning Network node experience.