Seeking advice on hardware spec

[fiszol]

Hello guys. I'm preparing to set up a trinity core server and as follows i am going to buy a dedicated machine for it. Since cash really matters i would like to know what exactly do i need. In best scenario i'm seeing around 500 ppl online during peak hours, so what do i need? Quad core intel? how much ram? In/Out connection spee, hard drive capacity, etc etc. I know that 32 core cpu with 128gb ram will handle anything, but i also know the price of such machine ;-)

How does trinity core act on different operating systems? I know it could run on linux or windows but does it matter? I'm a linux addict for quite few years now, would really like to use Debian.