While the entire RTX 50 series has soared in popularity, the RTX 5060 is climbing faster, followed by the GeForce RTX 5070.
Steam Hardware Survey for January 2026 Reveals the GeForce RTX 5060 Saw a 40% Increase in Popularity, While RTX 5070 Saw a 19% Jump Month Over Month
It's no coincidence that the budget RTX 50-series GPUs are now being adopted faster than ever. Blame the current market, which is forcing gamers to buy GPUs at significantly higher prices. NVIDIA and AMD have been making new supply strategies for their latest-gen GPUs, and this is resulting in much higher prices for some of their SKUs.
The effect of NVIDIA prioritizing the supply of 8 GB RTX 50 series GPUs can be seen almost immediately. The Steam Hardware Survey data for January 2026 is out, and the GeForce RTX 5060's popularity has soared by nearly 40% compared to December 2025. While it's not even near the most popular GPUs on Steam, it's now closing the gap between popular RTX 40 and 30 series GPUs, such as the RTX 4060 and RTX 3060.
The GeForce RTX 5060 had a share of nearly 1.78% in December 2025, but it has now increased to an incredible 2.50%. On paper, this looks small, but in reality, the adoption rate is really huge. Similarly, the GeForce RTX 5070 share grew from 2.41% to 2.87%. This is a nearly 19% change in a single month, and now it's the most popular RTX 50 series GPU on the Steam charts. Other RTX 50 cards are also gaining popularity every month, but the stats for these two GPUs are particularly interesting due to a few reasons.
NVIDIA was recently reported to have shifted its focus to the RTX 5060, RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, and the RTX 5070 due to VRAM supply constraints. The RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB got a supply reduction to maintain a steady supply for these two cards. Most gamers want to settle for the 16 GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti, but since the GPU is currently sitting at almost 2X its MSRP, only the 8 GB version remains affordable. Despite this, 16 GB GPUs now have a higher share than in December 2025, while 8 GB GPUs are seeing noticeable drops. And even after 5 years, 1080p remains the most popular resolution for gamers.
As for AMD, only the Radeon RX 9070 has appeared on the latest Steam survey with a total share of 0.16%. RX 9070 XT is no longer on the list, and it's far more expensive than its non-XT counterpart. The RX 9060 XT is still absent from the charts for some reason. We have been seeing RX 9000 GPUs missing from the Steam Hardware survey since their launch for unknown reasons, but
News Source: Steam
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
