You could have basically moved to a 9900k for free.
I think they OP should have done that too, but I built several PCs (FOR FAMILY EVEN) with 9700k @ $200 (or less) with a mainboard discount. One as a Christmas gift for my bro-in-law (upgrade from an 8350 Bulldozer baby! 8 Core to 8 Core, right?
) and the other as a PC for my six year old daughter to hopefully use for a loooooooong time. In neither of these cases did I feel that moving a 9900k would make a wit of difference. The 9700k has a lot of juice.
But, a good friend of mine was using a 9700k and he games a lot - a lot. And to him it was worth it, so I bought a 9900k at MC and we swapped at cost so he could have the threads to hold out longer.
I don't think either view was wrong, but getting a 9900k to hold for ~$50 over a 9700k? Given that Intel has moved the bar only just a little teeny bit since then and we are likely a full year of real availability of a platform that moves the bar? Worth it. Especially now when all of sudden a PSU worth buying could be $250 again.
Which reminds me, there was a great deal on a superflower on Slickdeals...