Graphics card options in current climate

[MiRai]

Upgrading, and taking 1 step at a time. I am using an i7-3770k and a 32 gb of DDR3. While upgrading an entire setup these would need to go but looking at benchmarks, an i5-8600 isn't "That" much faster than my old I7 overall.

Based on what benchmarks?

The i5 8600 should be a ~30% increase in single-threaded performance, and a ~50% increase in multi-threaded performance—simply because it's better architecture and has more cores.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_page..._review,7.html

However, you can spend almost the same amount of money on an AMD 2700X and get, arguably, even better performance when it comes to multitasking. Obviously, a full system upgrade comes at an increased cost and I don't know what the budget is, but here's a quick build to give you an idea - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mQzbD2

You could always get a super cheapo motherboard, but I personally hate doing that because, in my opinion, you shouldn't really cut corners when it comes to electronics if you expect efficiency over a longer lifespan. I would also like to put a 240/280mm AIO cooler on that chip, but that is more money and requires that your case has a place to mount it.

Does going for the beast RTX 2070 just make the most sense since it should have the longest lifespan to be "current"?

I would say yes.

and how long should I wait or should I for a price drop?

The 2070 is about two months old, and so I doubt there are many (if any) deals on a new GPU, but while it's the better choice of the two GPUs you listed, that 3770K CPU is going to, undoubtedly, hold it back.