Intel/AMD x86 architecture vs. IBM/Motorola PowerPC

x86 is not what it's sold as. x86 benchmarks very well but benchmarks can and are twisted to the advantage of the manufacturer. RISC still has an advantage as the RISC cores present in x86 CPUs are only a marketing myth. An instruction converter cannot remove the inherent complexity present in the x86 instruction set and consequently x86 is large and inefficient and is going to remain so. x86 is still outgunned at the high end and perhaps surprisingly also at the low end - you can't make an x86 fast and run cool. There is a lot of marketing goes into x86 and the market -technical people included- just lap it up.