The latest Steam Hardware Survey reveals some crucial changes in the mainstream market, including popular GPUs, OS, VRAM capacity, and more.
GeForce RTX 5070 and 5060 Series Cards are Popular Than Ever; RTX 4060 Laptop GPU Still Retains the Top Position
For months now, the GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU has remained the most popular graphics card among Steam users, bringing its total share from 4.62% to 4.84%. This is the highest change in the GPU share according to Steam, but just after that, we have several RTX 50 series cards that rose decently in share as well. Most of them are the GeForce RTX 5070 and 5060 series cards, with RTX 5070 being the most popular 50-series card, having 1.69% total share.
GeForce RTX 5060 is next with 1.13% of share, followed by the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti with 0.91% market share, and the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti with 0.89%. We don't have the data on which version of the RTX 5060 Ti is the most popular, but the 16 GB is likely giving a greater boost in the share. RTX 5080 is also gaining decent momentum on the charts, while the RTX 5090 saw a small 0.05% change month-over-month.
It also appears that the RTX 5060 Laptop GPU is gaining good popularity, and it might replace the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU in the near future. However, it will take quite some time before we see this GPU reaching over 4% market share.
More People are Avoiding 8 GB GPUs; 16 GB GPUs Have the Highest Adoption Rate
GPUs with 8 GB of VRAM capacity are slowly declining in popularity, and while it is still the most popular VRAM configuration on video cards, it saw a big 1.37% decline compared to August. With 33.66% of the share, it will still take some time to see any other memory configuration taking its place, but the first to do so appears to be either 12 GB or 16 GB cards. We don't have that many 12 GB video cards in the market, and 16 GB is a more common configuration on modern AMD and NVIDIA GPUs.
16 GB GPUs gained the highest boost last month (nearly 0.72%) and currently have a share of 7.52%. It's refreshing to see gamers are slowly transitioning from 8 GB to 16 GB GPUs, but unfortunately, GPU manufacturers haven't learned the lesson.
Windows 10 Share Plummet as Official Support Nears its End of Life
The official support for Windows 10 will end on 14th October, and with the date being less than two weeks away, users are quickly transitioning to Windows 11. As of September, the Windows 11 OS is now at 66.08%, gaining a solid 2.90% boost compared to August.
8-Core CPUs On the Rise While 6-Core Models Lose Ground
Octa-core CPUs will soon replace 6-core CPUs as 8-core SKUs are steadily climbing on the list, with now having 25.28% market share (0.87% over August). 6-Core CPUs are still the most popular, but have dropped below 30% of share for the first time. Similarly, higher-core count CPUs are also steadily gaining momentum, with 16-core CPUs being one of the highest share gainers in September.
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.
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