You might want to look into slightly upgrading the processor to a 7850X3D, if your motherboard. Currently, it is the best the market has to offer for now.
Software: I plan to use Ubuntu Server. Is this a solid choice for running a full node and developing analytics tools, or are there other distributions better optimized for this kind of work?
If you're going to be installing a lot of packages from package managers and you don't mind the slightly longer setup time, then I say you should change your setup to Arch Linux. They have the latest versions of everything already in the package manager, so you don't have to fiddle with Pip/Poetry/Npm/Cargo. And then there's the AUR which should cover all the software you need to get including Bitcoin Core.