X99 is "slower" because it doesn't have the traditional 3-5% IPC improvement of Skylake. Never mind the fact that you get 2 extra real cores for the same or less money (right now anyway). I assume the extra PCIe lanes are useful for the new M.2 NVMe SSDs too but I don't know much about them.
Yes I to always take manufacturers claims at their word and don't bother doing any research or listening to what people say on internet forums even when they try and highlight their points with actual reasoned argument! I mean companies never make exaggerated or somewhat optimistic claims about their own products do they......