Higher single thread performance is higher single thread performance, no matter if achieved via higher clock, doing more per clock ("IPC"), or both.
If you run one non-parallel task, the 7700K will be faster. If you run many non-parallel tasks in… parallel (make -j16), the 1700 will be seriously faster.
If you run one non-parallel task, the 7700K will be faster. If you run many non-parallel tasks in… parallel (make -j16), the 1700 will be seriously faster.