Yes that is an excellent combination. I was going to replace my 4790k with a 9900k but actually the benchmarks (and real world performance) of the former made me change my mind. The 9900k is a little better but surprisingly marginal. Not worth the hassle to me.
I’m using my last i7 4790k from a build 4 months ago, and the spare has 2 years of excessive use.
For 6 years these CPUs were exposed to high heat, and already being inside of a 1U Chassis means cooling has to be really good.
The Z97 has less PCI-e lanes but I’m using 4 x SSDs and an NVMe for sample loading, not streaming.
I wanted a new AMD and they are excellent CPUs for so many games, video rendering, etc.
But Cinebench Single Core benchmarks are for ball park estimations.
They look really good so far, but on the Intel’s you can Overclock all cores at percentages that exceed the turbo boost maximum.
I don’t want to go that far but with exotic cooling you can get insane FPS for gaming.
I would want an AMD to OC all cores just by 500MHz, not even the maximum turbo boost on a single core. 2 different reviewers couldn’t get 500MHz on all cores, and one CPU was burned up and destroyed.
Granted these could be great for audio in a studio scenario where editing, programming recording can be forgiving.
I’m using mine for live performance where I’m pegging the Max polyphony for hours everyday and night.
I’m thinking AMD already has these CPUs near their threshold so even if they do perform as well as an Intel they lack the headroom I often enjoy.
I’m using 18 x Analog Devices ADSP-21369 Chips that combined use 40%, my 4790k hovers @60-80%.
According to AMD their CPUs lose performance if the DRAM is too fast, and 500MHz before crapping out means there’s little headroom.
Again, this is fine for projects, etc.
For live work I’m too accustomed to the safety margins where my profit margins are. A crash at one of my gigs is on par with death by hanging.
No Union protects me, and several performers and other groups are right behind me ready to cherish my demise.
Intel CPUs will be even better in 2020.
I git all kinds of time thanks to the i7 4790ks.
Bought 4 of these 6 years ago.
In 2020 I’ll buy 4 of Intel’s i10’s or whatever the new number is.
AMD is getting money from Me though as I admired their comeback and we need them.
So go buy a Ryzen 5 3600 or 7 3700X and be impressed with these incredible values.