[EdGy-]

Could an 8 core amd processor work? I know the cores aren't as "strong" but would it be better than anything I could get at the price

Whoever told you that is bullshit. A core is a core. I use an 8-core 5.1ghz machine with a samsung 960 pro NVMe hard disk and 32GB of overclocked memory for my dev machine, on 5 monitors (see image)

Do I need a good gpu and how much ram, 16?

Also is there any mobo brand that's better suited or (generally has better compatibility and bios config)