Entirely depends what for tbh.
Content creation, obviously the i9 or Threadripper would outperform the i7, but in something like gaming, a higher clock speed would matter more than cores.
J._.cHEDT (High end desktop, what this poll is for) are generally workstations for editing, programming, multiple VMs at home, etc. I use mine for gaming on the side, but I'm totally fine getting 10% less frames off my game using the 1950x over the 7900x just for the sheer price/core difference alone that are infinitely more useful in my VM uses.