> So you have to follow a comparison operation with either a conditional branch or a conditional move (and earlier processors in the x86 family didn't have conditional moves).

The x86 family has the `setCC` instructions [^1] that move bits from the flag register to a general purpose one. Example from godbolt, see `setg`:

https://c.godbolt.org/z/MY37oP9vz

[^1]: https://www.felixcloutier.com/x86/setcc