watzupkenAlder Lake may likely result in improved single core performance, but multicore performance is not going to catch up with Zen 3 when their top SKU is expected to only have 8 performance cores with 8 efficient cores.

damricRemember the C3 Phenom II also did not bring a performance improvement, same stock clocks.

But oh boy they overclocked so much better than C2.

tabascosauzOh, I don't doubt that AMD makes behind the scene changes. The previous gens didn't outwardly advertise multiple steppings, and Matisse went from 3.9@1.3V to 4.5@1.25V on the original stepping. Just curious that AMD's choosing to do this now on Vermeer, had to be something at least somewhat worth noting.

theGryphonFar from it.
It's been a new process node for AMD (and TSMC for that matter) and a new core, so process improvements to reduce defects and increase yield, along with some bugfixing are all expected.
Maybe lack of competition from Alder Late did not force their hand to eek out minor performance increases (at the expense of power/temps) or maybe the manufacturing process just didn't have it in it. In any case, it's a win for the consumer if thanks to this stepping availability will increase at/below MSRP and system stability will improve.

KarymidoNwe have no competition RN so lets just up the prices and slow the releases of new and improved SKU's...
sounds just like intel tbh