I thought the main reason x86 won was the tie in with Windows PC's and servers. Microsoft took the market. The apps were written for x86. So, most servers are x

I thought the main reason x86 won was the tie in with Windows PC's and servers. Microsoft took the market. The apps were written for x86. So, most servers are x86. Intel and PC makers also charged less for hardware. I always wanted one of those RISC systems. They cost upper four to five digits. On the high end, NUMA machines cost around six or more digits. People started building Beowulf clusters out of Intel boxes to knock off digits. Clustering got big. So, it was cheaper on small and large end to run Intel. Compatibility with dominant system and low cost. Maybe add that they kept optimizing for workloads like gaming on top of that.