Single-core performance, at its simplest, is determined by a combination of microarchitecture IPC and frequency,
You can't talk about frequency in isolation from IPC, you can't talk about IPC in isolation from frequency,
The most typical example is 1065G7 and 9900K. The IPC of 1065G7 is 18% higher than that of 9900K, but the single-core frequency of 1065G7 is 28% higher than that of 9900K. As a result, the single-core performance of 1065G7 is even weaker than that of 9900K.
From the 6th generation to the 10th generation of Intel high-performance desktop level, the microarchitecture has not changed at all. The performance of single-core is improved entirely by increasing the frequency. The maximum core frequency of the representative I7 is increased from 4.2ghz → 4.5ghz → 4.7ghz →5GHz→ 5.3ghz, and the architecture IPC is improved to 0.
AMD has changed its architecture twice from Ryzen to ZEN3, that is, it has improved IPC twice: ZEN/ZEN+ to ZEN2 by 15% and ZEN2 to ZEN3 by 19%. The frequency has also been increasing.
1800X single-core core frequency 4GHz, IPC is Haswell level
The 2700X did not increase IPC, but did increase the frequency slightly, to 4.3GHz,
The 3950X's IPC is 15% higher, the single-core acceleration frequency is up to 4.5ghz, IPC is Skylake rated,
The 5950X's IPC is up another 19%, bringing the single-core acceleration frequency to 4.9GHz. IPC is Sunny Cove rated,
IPC is overtaken, frequency is gradually catching up,
In this way, AMD naturally defeated Intel's Skylake, and even exceeded Intel's Sunny Cove in some applications. Of course, there must be some inferior ones as well. When playing Skylake, it was like playing a kid.
To have today, in addition to AMD's step by step, steady improvement, and Intel's own waves to play a dead assist, Intel's 10nm overturned for many years for AMD's development laid a foundation.