Steam Hardware Survey 2026: September Results Explained

The latest Steam Hardware Survey 2026 data covers September 2026, and it’s one of the most eventful months in years. Valve released it in early October. For the first time, 32GB has overtaken 16GB as the most common amount of system RAM. The GeForce RTX 5070 is now the single most common graphics card. 1440p jumped more than five points in one month, and AMD’s processor share climbed to a record high. This explainer walks through the numbers category by category: GPUs, VRAM, CPUs, RAM, resolution, operating systems and more. It also covers why some of the swings deserve a pinch of salt, and what the data means if you’re buying or upgrading a gaming PC right now.

All figures below come from Valve’s Steam Hardware and Software Survey for September 2026. Unless we say otherwise, they’re the combined all-platform figures. The survey is monthly, optional and anonymous, so it’s a sample of Steam users, not a census.

Steam Hardware Survey September 2026: Key Numbers

The last-but-one row matters more than it looks, and we’ll come back to it. Simplified Chinese jumped 7.42 points in a month. Big language swings like this usually mean the sample shifted, and they tend to drag other numbers with them.

Graphics Cards: The RTX 5070 Takes First Place

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5070 is now the most common GPU in the survey at 5.86%, up 2.30 points in one month. Current-generation Blackwell cards now hold the top three spots, with the RTX 5060 second and the RTX 5060 Ti third. That pushes the long-running RTX 3060 and RTX 4060 down the table. Every one of the top 15 cards is an NVIDIA GeForce model.

Just below the top 15 sit Apple’s M2 (1.74%), the RTX 4070 SUPER (1.66%), the RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (1.59%), the RTX 4050 Laptop GPU (1.52%), Intel Iris Xe Graphics (1.50%) and the RTX 2060 (1.49%). The flagship cards remain niche: the RTX 4090 is at 0.65% and the RTX 5090 at 0.38%.

Where is AMD?

AMD’s most popular discrete card is the Radeon RX 9070 XT at 1.35%, down 0.02 points. The RX 9060 XT follows at 0.73%, then the RX 6600 at 0.71% and the RX 7800 XT at 0.56%. AMD integrated graphics, listed as “AMD Radeon Graphics”, add 1.43%. That gap is large, but keep in mind that AMD’s Radeon share is spread across many models, while NVIDIA’s is concentrated in a few very popular x60 and x70 cards.

How the top cards moved over five months

Valve’s Windows-only “PC video card usage” page shows five months of history, and it shows how sudden September’s jump was. Its numbers differ slightly from the all-platform table above because Mac and Linux systems are left out.

From May to August the RTX 5070 grew slowly, adding well under half a point a month. Then it added more than two points in September alone. The RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti show the same one-month jump. A real shift in what people own doesn’t usually look like that. It looks more like a change in who got sampled, which we cover below. Still, the long trend is clear: the RTX 50 series has been climbing all year while the RTX 3060 slowly fades.

For reference, these are the three cards now leading the chart. The RTX 5070 has 12GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus. The RTX 5060 Ti comes in 8GB and 16GB versions on a 128-bit bus. The RTX 5060 has 8GB on a 128-bit bus. All three launched in spring 2025.

ASUS Dual GeForce RTX™ 5070 12GB GDDR7 OC Edition (PCIe 5.0, DLSS 4, HDMI/DP 2.1b, Compact Dual-Fan Design, Axial-tech Fan Design, 0dB Technology, and More)

Included for 'Steam Hardware Survey 2026: September Results Explained' as a representative home product in this roundup; selection reflects the product set returned for this topic.

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ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GDDR7 OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card

Included for 'Steam Hardware Survey 2026: September Results Explained' as a representative home product in this roundup; selection reflects the product set returned for this topic.

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ASUS Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 8GB GDDR7 OC Edition (PCIe 5.0, 8GB GDDR7, DLSS 4, HDMI 2.1b, DisplayPort 2.1b, 2.5-Slot Design, Axial-tech Fan Design, 0dB Technology), 3 Year Warranty

Included for 'Steam Hardware Survey 2026: September Results Explained' as a representative home product in this roundup; selection reflects the product set returned for this topic.

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VRAM: 16GB Holds a Narrow Lead

For video memory, 16GB is the most common amount at 27.21% (+0.29), just ahead of 8GB at 26.71% (+0.97). Reporting on earlier surveys says 16GB first passed 8GB in July 2026, and the lead has stayed narrow since. The full picture:

• 16 GB: 27.21%
• 8 GB: 26.71%
• 12 GB: 13.06%
• 24 GB: 5.50%
• 4 GB: 5.13%
• 6 GB: 5.12%
• 2 GB: 3.69%
• 10 GB: 1.91%
• 32 GB: 1.41%

Add up the 12GB, 16GB, 20GB, 22GB, 24GB and 32GB rows and roughly half of surveyed systems now have 12GB or more. A little over a quarter are still on 8GB. That split matters for game developers: 8GB cards are still too common to ignore, but 12GB to 16GB is quickly becoming the mainstream target.

CPUs: AMD Hits a Record, Eight Cores Lead

Among Windows systems, Intel still leads at 52.59%, but it dropped 1.88 points in September, while AMD rose 1.89 points to 47.41%. Reports that cover all platforms put AMD at 48.37%, which they describe as a record high for the survey. On Linux, AMD already dominates with 66.18% of systems. That’s helped by AMD-based handhelds such as the Steam Deck.

Core counts keep rising. Eight physical cores is now the most common configuration:

• 8 cores: 30.06% (+2.02)
• 6 cores: 27.23% (-0.20)
• 4 cores: 10.79% (-1.67)
• 10 cores: 8.19% (+0.68)
• 16 cores: 5.78% (-0.18)
• 14 cores: 5.23% (+0.34)
• 12 cores: 4.78% (-0.31)

Together, 6- and 8-core chips cover more than 57% of surveyed systems. That lines up with what most current mid-range gaming CPUs offer. Quad-core systems are fading but still make up about one in ten.

System RAM: 32GB Overtakes 16GB

This is the headline of the month. 32GB rose 4.77 points to 42.22%, while 16GB fell 3.38 points to 37.82%. In August the order was reversed, with 16GB at 41.20% and 32GB at 37.45%. Coverage of the survey describes this as the first time 32GB has led. The rest of the breakdown:

• 32 GB: 42.22%
• 16 GB: 37.82%
• 8 GB: 6.47%
• 64 GB: 3.71%
• 24 GB: 2.56%
• 12 GB: 2.12%
• 48 GB: 1.46%
• 4 GB: 1.15%

The timing is odd. Memory is unusually expensive in 2026. Reporting in September and October puts a 32GB DDR5-6000 kit at roughly four to five times its mid-2025 price, as memory makers shift capacity toward high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators. Steam Deck HQ was among the outlets that called the size of the 32GB jump hard to believe for exactly that reason. More likely, many 32GB systems were bought before prices spiked, and September’s sample happened to catch more of them.

Resolution: 1440p Surges Past a Quarter of Users

1920 x 1080 remains the most common primary display at 47.91%, but it fell 2.61 points. 2560 x 1440 gained 5.18 points to reach 27.04%. Other notable resolutions:

• 2560 x 1600: 5.22%, mostly laptops and 16:10 displays
• 3840 x 2160 (4K): 4.79%
• 3440 x 1440 ultrawide: 2.91%
• 1920 x 1200: 2.56%
• 1366 x 768: 1.92%

Add the 1440p-class resolutions together (2560 x 1440, 2560 x 1600 and 3440 x 1440) and more than a third of primary displays are above 1080p. 4K stays a niche at under 5%.

Operating Systems: Windows Up, Linux Down

Windows rose 1.08 points to 95.03%. Linux fell 0.85 points to 3.05%, and macOS slipped 0.22 points to 1.92%. Within Windows, Windows 11 64-bit holds 71.34% of all surveyed systems and Windows 10 64-bit has 23.61%, a year after Windows 10 reached end of support in October 2025.

On Linux, the most common distributions are CachyOS (0.55%), SteamOS Holo (0.53%), Arch Linux (0.33%), Linux Mint 22.3 (0.27%) and Bazzite (0.21%). SteamOS Holo dropped 0.29 points, which also fits the theory that September’s sample leaned toward Windows desktops in certain regions.

Other Notable Findings

• Storage: 53.30% of systems now have more than 1TB of total drive space, up 3.79 points.
• VR: 1.35% of Steam users have a VR headset. Among them, the Meta Quest 3 leads at 26.90%, then the Quest 2 at 25.80%, the Quest 3S at 11.07% and the Valve Index at 10.83%. Valve’s new Steam Frame shows up at 0.41% of VR headsets.
• CPU instruction sets: AVX-512 VNNI support rose 3.61 points to 27.56%, another sign of newer CPUs in the sample.

Why Some September Numbers Look Too Good

Several of September’s biggest moves happened in one month, after slow and steady trends all summer. The likeliest explanation shows up in the language data. Simplified Chinese users rose 7.42 points to 31.39%, while English fell 4.05 points to 34.20%. When the survey reaches more users from one region, the hardware mix shifts with them. If the extra respondents skew toward recently built PCs and internet-cafe machines, which often use current mid-range NVIDIA cards, that alone could explain the RTX 5070, 32GB and 1440p jumps landing in the same month. Valve doesn’t publish a reason, so treat this as the most plausible reading rather than a confirmed cause.

That doesn’t make the survey useless. It means you should read single-month changes carefully and trust multi-month trends more. The trends that hold up over the full five-month window:

• RTX 50 series cards climbing steadily, with older GTX and RTX 30 cards fading.
• 16GB VRAM catching up with and then passing 8GB.
• Eight-core CPUs becoming the norm.
• AMD gaining CPU share against Intel.
• 1440p growing at the expense of 1080p.

What the Steam Survey Means for Buyers in 2026

Developers use this survey to decide what hardware to target. So it’s a decent guide to what your PC should have if you want it to stay comfortable for a few years.

The biggest practical takeaway concerns memory. If you’re building now and can afford it, 32GB matches where the Steam user base is heading. With DDR5 prices so high in 2026, though, a 16GB build with a plan to upgrade later is a reasonable compromise, especially for esports and older titles. On the GPU side, 12GB to 16GB of VRAM is becoming the safer choice for 1440p, which is why the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5070 sit where they do in the chart.

How the Steam Hardware Survey Works

Valve runs the Steam Hardware and Software Survey every month. Steam randomly invites users to take part. Joining is optional and anonymous, and the client collects system details such as the GPU, CPU, RAM, display resolution, OS and language. Valve publishes the results in the first days of the following month, with a combined view plus Windows, Mac and Linux breakdowns. Because the invited sample changes every month, the share of any region or language can swing. That’s why single-month jumps should be read alongside the longer trend.

Steam Hardware Survey 2026 FAQ

What is the most popular GPU on Steam in 2026?

In the September 2026 survey, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the most popular GPU at 5.86% of surveyed systems. It’s followed by the RTX 5060 at 4.20% and the RTX 5060 Ti at 3.87%. Before that jump, older cards like the RTX 3060 and RTX 4060 were near the top for most of the year.

How much RAM do most Steam users have?

32GB is now the most common amount, at 42.22% in September 2026, ahead of 16GB at 37.82%. It’s the first time 32GB has led the survey. About 6.5% of systems still have 8GB, and 3.71% have 64GB.

Is AMD or Intel more popular on Steam?

Intel is still slightly ahead. On Windows, Intel holds 52.59% and AMD 47.41% in September 2026, with AMD gaining almost two points in a month. Across all platforms, reports put AMD at a record 48.37%. On Linux, AMD leads with about two-thirds of systems.

What screen resolution do most Steam gamers use?

1920 x 1080 is still the most common, at 47.91%. 2560 x 1440 is second at 27.04% and grew more than five points in September 2026. 4K accounts for 4.79% of primary displays.

How many Steam users are on Linux?

Linux accounts for 3.05% of surveyed systems in September 2026, down from 3.90% in August. The most common distributions are CachyOS, SteamOS Holo (the Steam Deck’s OS), Arch Linux, Linux Mint and Bazzite.

How accurate is the Steam Hardware Survey?

It’s a large sample, but it isn’t perfect. It’s optional and randomly invites users, so the mix of regions can shift from month to month. September 2026 saw a 7.42-point jump in Simplified Chinese users, which likely inflated several hardware changes. Multi-month trends are more reliable than single-month swings.

When does the next Steam Hardware Survey come out?

Valve usually publishes each month’s results in the first days of the following month. The October 2026 survey should therefore appear in early November 2026 on the Steam Hardware and Software Survey page.

Bottom Line

The September 2026 Steam Hardware Survey shows a PC gaming base that’s clearly moving up a tier. RTX 50 series cards lead the GPU chart, 16GB VRAM and 32GB system RAM are the new most-common configurations, eight-core CPUs lead, and 1440p now covers more than a quarter of primary displays. Some of the one-month jumps are likely exaggerated by a shift in the survey sample, but the direction matches the steadier trends from the rest of the year. For buyers, that points to a 1440p-ready PC with 12GB to 16GB of VRAM and, budget permitting, 32GB of RAM as the sensible 2026 baseline.

Sources

Valve, Steam Hardware and Software Survey, September 2026 (combined, Windows video card and processor pages). Coverage of the September 2026 results from TechPowerUp, Steam Deck HQ, Tech Insider and others. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series specifications. Industry reporting on 2026 DDR5 memory prices.

Last updated: October 2026