Better for gaming 12g Intel Core 7 or 9 k chip

I see these past couple of years a new golden era of advancement.

Nothing too much changed in the technology space for me from 2012-2018. I was running:
Intel Core i5 3570K OC to 4.4 - CPU's predominately stayed quad core until Ryzen
8GB (upgraded to 16GB of RAM)
GTX 570 SLI (upgraded to GTX 970)
SSD's were added upgraded over the years.
Fundamentally though, my motherboard had PCIe Gen 3 and nothing else (except for DDR4) really changed. So over 6 years there was no real reason to upgrade.

In the past 3 or so years, everything has changed on the motherboard.
PCIe Gen 4 and then rapidly Gen 5
NVMe - And those versions consequently related to the PCIe Generations
CPU Core Count has exploded. Todays Core i3 is 4 years ago a Core i7.
DDR5 RAM

My plan to upgrade my 2700X is becoming difficult because my X470 board is only PCIe Gen3.
My NVMe drives performance cannot perform at the maximum because there is insufficient bandwidth (2nd NVMe runs at 1500MB/s instead of 3500MB/s).
My CPU limits my 64GB RAM to 2933Mhz.

It would be nice to get a 5900X BUT im still PCIe Gen 3 limited. So for me its not about the CPU now, its about the rest of the architecture (DDR5 seems not that important in its current infancy)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the new complete generation: DDR5, PCIe Gen 5, Massive CPU Core counts, Insanely fast SSD's ... We may finally be looking at some new standards that will survive that 6 year period again.....who knows....if so, buy at the top, it will last. However if PCIe Gen 6/7, USB 4, DDR6 comes out quickly, then it could be waste of money buying big.
One more example here is NVIDIA.
1060 = 980 Performance
3060 = 2080 Performance
Rumours are 4060/4070 = 3090 Performance ....Maybe buy yesterdays XX80 at todays XX60 prices - It'll still be an upgrade, just not cost you a kidney.

 

All this is available now. In order to put together a system that will last 6 years, you always will have to pay premium prices for the latest, most future proven stuff. There are no miracles. DDR5, by the way, is not such an infant anymore. The yields have been constantly going up, it's still pricy, but far more affordable than half a year ago.

 

That's exactly what he was saying

 

Sure pay 3x the price now to hopefully last 6 years or go i5 and ddr4 now and in 3 years time, you can use the money you saved to get a new system that would be faster.

 

There will be always a system that is faster - a month after you purchased yours.

I think the best strategy for a long lasting system is to get technology that is supposed to stay for a long period of time. At this moment, for example DDR5. The same goes for a board supporting PCI Express 5. If I would have a long lasting system in mind, I would not go for anything less. LGA 1700 and Z690 will also be working with Intel's next generation CPU, which let you upgrade. For the price, I do not think you pay 3 x times more for comparable DDR5. And you could even go for DDR4 with Z690 - if this is really a concern. Given the outstanding performance of Intel's 11th generation and Z690 chipset, I think it is a good time to change for somebody who has a 5 years old system and is looking for something new that will stay competitive for the next 5 years.

 

yep and after 72 months you're no-where. 6 years is an eternity in the market.

I prefer to buy into a platform (motherboard/RAM - things that don't change frequently) with plenty of life on the roadmap (so you can get a couple upgrades out of it), and go the step or two below top end, and upgrade after 2 or 3 years. that way you're only 2 generations behind, and not 6.