I don't entirely disagree, but synthetic benchmarks are different than games.

Plus, the money not spent on CPU, Mobo, and RAM can be spend on GPU and Monitor.

If it still plays smooth for him that is what matters, not just numbers.

I gone with 4770k GTX770 to a 1060, then 1080 then 2080 and upgraded to 1440p. In single player games it was very good. Stupidly enough I was completely fine in AAA title. But actually it was old competitive games like CSGO or simracing games that had micro stutter ever so often.

Upgraded to 5800x3d 32gb 3600cl16 and b550 wifi. Spent 510€ on that and problems were gone.

But thar 510€ plus another 300€ could gotten me a 4070Ti for 4K gaming and for SP, I would still be fine with my 4770K and 16gb ddr3.