I’d suspect having the 8 real vs 6 real would be worth it. I’ve been looking at the i5 9600k, no interest in HT but seeing as the new i7 9700k has removed HT (Likely to keep it cool for faster speeds of the added cores), I’m tempted.
The biggest interest in upgrading today has to be PCIe NVME drives (make sure they’re not the ones that still use sata). I suspect these will give us huge improvements when browsing sound libraries, here’s to hope!!! Amazon had an unmissable sale on the Samsung Pro and Evo models yesterday, limited quantities 40% off. The Evo didn’t even stay on promotion for it’s allotted time. Luckily I wanted the Pro.
If choosing between the 8th and 9th gen i7… and price was an issue, I’d get neither. The i5 9600k is the obvious choice. The new i5 is another £100+ cheaper. Same core count and turbo. Thanks to the heat spreader being directly soldered to the chip now, and you use the money for a better MB, you’ll easily lock OC into the turbo and keep it quiet. Many are getting 5.0 even 5.1 but it’s luck of the draw. I wouldn’t want to push it that far and would be happy with 4.8.
Unless any mad sales pop up in the next few days, my choices are new i7 9700k or new i5 9600k. I also looked at the new i9 but priced out here. Better to spend the money on PCIe NVMe, you’ll also need the z390 gen MB for the extra spice. Hope it’s not all hype, like that Optane (accelerators), which really only benefits old HD’s and at it’s price you might as well buy a new SSD, seriously late to the game with that idea.