AMD CPUs and Windows 11 reach their highest user share ever in latest Steam survey

[midian182]

In brief: January's Steam Hardware and Software results have arrived. The month after Christmas isn't a popular one for buying graphics cards, but it seems a few people have moved to AMD processors, which have reached their highest user-share ever against Intel. Windows 11, meanwhile, is getting closer to being found on half of all participants' PCs.

Despite Intel releasing new 14th-gen chips during CES, Team Blue lost more of its user share to AMD in the Steam survey last month. AMD was up 0.59% to 34.25%, its highest share ever. The company has just launched its Ryzen 8000G series desktop processors, so it'll be interesting to see how that affects things; we weren't very impressed with the Ryzen 7 8700G.

In the graphics card section of Valve's survey, the RTX 3060 continues to hold the top spot despite losing a 0.31% share last month. Nearly all of the top ten saw declines in January. Most of these are older cards, so it could be a result of people upgrading to newer models.

Most popular GPUs among Steam survey participants

January certainly illustrated the increasing popularity of gaming laptops. The RTX 4060 laptop GPU was the top performer, up 0.58%, followed by the RTX 3060 laptop GPU (up 0.38%). The RTX 4080 laptop GPU was fifth, while the RTX 4050 laptop GPU was ninth.

The RTX 4060 was the best-performing Lovelace desktop card, with the RTX 4060 Ti not far behind. All the RTX 4000-series saw gains, apart from the RTX 4070 (down 0.03%), though it remains the most popular of the desktop series among participants.

January's best-performing GPUs among Steam survey participants

Microsoft will be pleased to see that the Steam survey is at least one place where Windows 11 is performing well. The newest version of the OS has reached a record 44.2% user share in the survey as Windows 10 falls another 2% to 51.4%. It looks as if it won't be long before half of all participants are on Windows 11. That's a far cry from the global results: Windows 11's worldwide share is 26.5% compared to Windows 10's 67.4%.

Elsewhere on the survey, 16GB is now the preferred amount of RAM for almost 50% of participants, followed by 32GB (23%) in second. And despite more monitors being released with resolutions above FullHD, 1920 x 1080 is still used by most respondents (59.7%). Second-place 1440p is used by just 16%.

Finally, increasing game-install sizes could be why the majority of people have between 100GB and 249GB of free drive space left; most participants' total space is above 1TB.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101736-amd-cpus-windows-11-reach-their-highest-user.html

 

[Endymio]

I've spent decades defending Microsoft's business practices in countless forums both real and online, from the OS/2 controversies to the absurd lawsuits on everything from browser bundling and "application server" monopolies. But I have to admit that Windows 11 is the end of the line. It's sole raison d'etre is to force you to divulge personal information while inundating you with advertisements. It's also the first OS that -- except for temporary reasons of stability -- I've ever chosen to downgrade back to the older version.

 

[yRaz]

I've spent decades defending Microsoft's business practices in countless forums both real and online, from the OS/2 controversies to the absurd lawsuits on everything from browser bundling and "application server" monopolies. But I have to admit that Windows 11 is the end of the line. It's sole raison d'etre is to force you to divulge personal information while inundating you with advertisements. It's also the first OS that -- except for temporary reasons of stability -- I've ever chosen to downgrade back to the older version.

I've been using Linux Mint since 2019, I'm throughly done with windows. And, frankly, the last 2 years have been great because Valve has been dumping millions into Proton for Linux gaming development.

M$ can go drink their own piss, their days are numbered.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I've been using Linux Mint since 2019, I'm throughly done with windows. And, frankly, the last 2 years have been great because Valve has been dumping millions into Proton for Linux gaming development.

M$ can go drink their own piss, their days are numbered.

I do like running linux, I will say there are a few edges to iron out. Finding out why a game crashes, for instance, is a labyrinth of text and bizarre numbers compared to MS's event viewer.

 

[EdmondRC]

The cost of building a desktop vs buying a laptop use to make sense, but that's not the case for lower end gaming at the moment. It is not any cheaper to build a PC with a 4060 than to just get one of the laptops as low as $900 with a 4060. The mobile 4060(115W) does not even compromise, it is the same GPU and in most gaming laptops capable of the same performance. Building a PC with a 13600K and DDR5 I came out to $1100 with the cheapest 4060 on Newegg, this was the lowest end parts I felt comfortable going with. I got the Acer Helios 16 for my wife with the 13700HX, DDR5, and a 4060 for $999. This should not be the case. Yes, the PC is still a little more powerful and it has the luxury of being upgradeable, but the laptop as a unit has a keyboard and 165hz G-Sync screen and is sort of portable.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The cost of building a desktop vs buying a laptop use to make sense, but that's not the case for lower end gaming at the moment. It is not any cheaper to build a PC with a 4060 than to just get one of the laptops as low as $900 with a 4060. The mobile 4060(115W) does not even compromise, it is the same GPU and in most gaming laptops capable of the same performance. Building a PC with a 13600K and DDR5 I came out to $1100 with the cheapest 4060 on Newegg, this was the lowest end parts I felt comfortable going with. I got the Acer Helios 16 for my wife with the 13700HX, DDR5, and a 4060 for $999. This should not be the case. Yes, the PC is still a little more powerful and it has the luxury of being upgradeable, but the laptop as a unit has a keyboard and 165hz G-Sync screen and is sort of portable.

You also end up with a system that cannot be upgraded, and if its anything like the gaming laptops I've owned before, full of plastic that will weaken and crack in 2-3 years of heavy use. Dont forget it's louder, and you get to deal with driver related problems with multi GPU.

Also, why are you buying a 13600k? CPUs like the 12400f are far cheaper and offer near identical performance, and still will perform better then the laptop CPU with its power limits and terrible cooling. the K series is pointless now, even for OCing, especially when paired with a 4060.

 

[yRaz]

I do like running linux, I will say there are a few edges to iron out. Finding out why a game crashes, for instance, is a labyrinth of text and bizarre numbers compared to MS's event viewer.

Well the worst thing about the way Linux does things is that it doesn't have to be that way. There is a Linux elitistism culture where nerds use it simply to fuel their superiority complex. When I say the last 2 years have been great it is because of the steam deck making Linux accessible to the masses. And, frankly, there are probably more steam decks than there are actual Linux users. Linux could have replaced Windows a decade ago if it wasn't for Linux Elitistism.

 

[EdmondRC]

You also end up with a system that cannot be upgraded, and if its anything like the gaming laptops I've owned before, full of plastic that will weaken and crack in 2-3 years of heavy use. Dont forget it's louder, and you get to deal with driver related problems with multi GPU.

Also, why are you buying a 13600k? CPUs like the 12400f are far cheaper and offer near identical performance, and still will perform better then the laptop CPU with its power limits and terrible cooling. the K series is pointless now, even for OCing, especially when paired with a 4060.

I acknowledged your first point about upgradeability in my original post. Let's not forget there is value to portability too. I would not want to drag my desktop PC around with me, but we'll definitely take our laptop with us if we are going to be gone for a few days.

Your point about quality, this is our second Predator Helios, the last one I had was the Predator Helios 300 circa 2017 with a i7-7700hq and GTX 1060 6GB. We only replaced it because it was getting too slow for my wife to do her photo editing and she's using some of the Ai features now that benefit from the RTX GPUs. But the frame and computer held up amazingly well and this was a heavy used and abused machine. So, not all are created equal. It's one of the reasons I purchased the Acer laptop again.

Your points about noise and cheaper CPUs. I did not say laptops were my goto choice, I am saying that they make sense considering the value. The one we have is not that bad with noise as long as it has room to breathe, I always wear headphones when I'm gaming though so I guess I don't notice it. I was trying to find a chip that was roughly the equivalent in performance, believe it or not, the 13700HX does actually outperform the 12400f, the 13500 though is a desktop part that is just slightly better for $230, the 12400f is $150, both are good choices, but both still keep the price right around that of the laptop.

Personally, I have a desktop with a 5800X and 4080. My plan is to upgrade to Ryzen 9000 later this year. I definitely prefer desktops, especially for higher end, but if my choice was between building a 4060 gaming PC or buying the laptop with a 4060, the pros and cons are different. A 4080 desktop can be built cheaper than a 4080 laptop and is much more powerful.

 

[Ecurb]

I’ve been AMD for a long time, simply because I can put together pretty good systems for very good prices compared to Intel. My homelab servers are 9-11 year old tech, including a few Intel, and they’re still more than powerful enough for all my needs. The Intel premium to get that little bit of extra power I never needed and that’s stood the test of time.

With that said, Intel iGPUs seem better supported in the Linux world (Jellyfin, rendering), and such things can sway my purchases (off of eBay, I prefer older tech than bleeding edge).

Linux Mint Cinammon is my daily PC OS and Windows 10 is relegated to a Virtual Box on Linux for the one app I still need it for. It’s great to be away from all the Windows drama and see more support (Steam, Wine) going into Linux systems.

 

[trparky]

Well the worst thing about the way Linux does things is that it doesn't have to be that way. There is a Linux elitistism culture where nerds use it simply to fuel their superiority complex. When I say the last 2 years have been great it is because of the steam deck making Linux accessible to the masses. And, frankly, there are probably more steam decks than there are actual Linux users. Linux could have replaced Windows a decade ago if it wasn't for Linux Elitistism.

Exactly. That elitism pushes many people away from wanting to use Linux, including myself.

I'd much rather go to the Mac where if I have a problem, all I have to do is call Apple or go to the local Apple Store to get support than to go to Linux where if I have a problem people are often laughed at or told to go back to Windows if you can't figure things out.

Yes, Linux could have killed Windows stone dead a decade ago but the Linux community just couldn't get out of their own way.

 

[yRaz]

Exactly. That elitism pushes many people away from wanting to use Linux, including myself.

I'd much rather go to the Mac where if I have a problem, all I have to do is call Apple or go to the local Apple Store to get support than to go to Linux where if I have a problem people are often laughed at or told to go back to Windows if you can't figure things out.

Yes, Linux could have killed Windows stone dead a decade ago but the Linux community just couldn't get out of their own way.

So I've been a full-time Linux user for nearly 5 years now and I am happy to say that the elitistism is starting to go away and Valve's investment into developing Linux has made it dramatically easier to use. This has attracted more "normal" users that have chased a lot of the elitists off of support forums. And it's also helping that there are distros specifically designed for "new users." I absolutely love Linux Mint, and do you know why? because I don't have to compile my own kernel every time I need to reinstall. I get made fun of by other Linus users constantly because of it, they say its not real Linux. and I ask why? because I actually want an operating system that works instead of writing code everytime I want to turn my computer on?

Thankfully the steamdeck has had a huge positive impact on the Linux community and we might actually be just a few years away from a true windows replacement. frankly, the biggest obstacle now is DRM. Many companies want the DRM to have kernel level access. 1) I just don't use those programs and 2) they don't make a DRM compatible with Linux.

I see people complain about the "compatibility" problem for the entire wrong reason. They say they can't use some program or play some game because the DRM needs kernel level access. To which I reply, why the f*** does so and so company need kernel level access to your computer? And I'd just like to point out, DRM has never worked. There is a crack for every peice of software ever made.

 

[trparky]

I see people complain about the "compatibility" problem for the entire wrong reason. They say they can't use some program or play some game because the DRM needs kernel level access. To which I reply, why the f*** does so and so company need kernel level access to your computer? And I'd just like to point out, DRM has never worked. There is a crack for every piece of software ever made.

I understand that, but saying that isn't going to make DRM go away.

Thankfully the steamdeck has had a huge positive impact on the Linux community and we might actually be just a few years away from a true windows replacement.

I hope that one day that will indeed happen but if you ask me, I'm not going to hold my breath. A lot of things still need to happen in Linux to truly make it an id10t-proof OS.

 

[yRaz]

I understand that, but saying that isn't going to make DRM go away.

I hope that one day that will indeed happen but if you ask me, I'm not going to hold my breath. A lot of things still need to happen in Linux to truly make it an id10t-proof OS.

Well the biggest thing that is different from even just a few years ago is the level to which Microsoft is pissing people off. Instead of listening to customers about what they want they opt for the strategy off trying to tell customers what they want and that has never worked for anyone. They have been doing this for so long now that more and more people are willing to put up with whatever inconvenience switching to Linux might have. But the thing is that talented people are actually making the switch and contributing to it now. Steam surveys have shown Linux gaming growing by a few tenths of a percent every year for the last several years with the latest one showing 2% of users are running Linux now. That doesn't sound like a lot until you consider that steam has almost 140 million monthly active users. That's approximately 3 million people willing to buy a product. That's a lot of potential sales.

There are things happening in Linux development over the last few years that have never happened in the history of its development.

One final note, I don't want an ***** proof OS but Linux has been very difficult to accidently break for several years now. we have windows updates that break millions of machines without the user touching them

 

[trparky]

One final note, I don't want an ***** proof OS but Linux has been very difficult to accidently break for several years now.

You may not want that, but for Linux to be a mass-market operating system, it needs to be. One should be able to sit down at their computer and just have things work. No trying to make it work, no tweaking, no nothing. It needs to just work. Period.

Up until recently, as you've alluded to, Windows has been that way. It just worked. Recent quality of Windows Updates have caused that "it just works" mentality of Windows to no longer be the case.

we have windows updates that break millions of machines without the user touching them

It's funny though, I've yet to be hit by one of these show-stopping bugs. I can't explain it. Windows 11 has been 99% rock solid stable for me. Why do some people have constant issues while I sit back and have virtually none? I can't explain it.

 

[GhostLegion]

Well the worst thing about the way Linux does things is that it doesn't have to be that way. There is a Linux elitistism culture where nerds use it simply to fuel their superiority complex. When I say the last 2 years have been great it is because of the steam deck making Linux accessible to the masses. And, frankly, there are probably more steam decks than there are actual Linux users. Linux could have replaced Windows a decade ago if it wasn't for Linux Elitistism.

I use Arch btw.


I jest ofc. More of a Fedora guy but my stance has always been user freedom. The distro should start as pure of non-FOSS components as possible but the OS shouldn’t go out of its way to make installing them difficult. This lets users easily select their preferred level of software purity if they want that.

There are unfortunately some things that I think Windows does better, I’m tragically on Windows again because…school but whatever, eventually I’ll get around to make a second boot drive and use that for most everything I can. The only thing I genuinely think Windows is much superior than Linux for is battery life

 

[yRaz]

You may not want that, but for Linux to be a mass-market operating system, it needs to be. One should be able to sit down at their computer and just have things work. No trying to make it work, no tweaking, no nothing. It needs to just work. Period.

Up until recently, as you've alluded to, Windows has been that way. It just worked. Recent quality of Windows Updates have caused that "it just works" mentality of Windows to no longer be the case.

I would like to point out that this is why I use Linux Mint and why I get made fun of by other linux users for dailying it.

It's funny though, I've yet to be hit by one of these show-stopping bugs. I can't explain it. Windows 11 has been 99% rock solid stable for me. Why do some people have constant issues while I sit back and have virtually none? I can't explain it.

So I actually have a theory for this, it's a driver thing. you aren't the first person who has brought this up, either. Most updates are to fix or improve something that's old. older hardware and drivers are more likely to interact with that older code that the update was there to "fix". my problem is I have computers in my house that are almost 10 years old that are still fine for browsing the internet or watching YouTube. Frankly, for basic tasks any computer from 2005 onward is capable. Throw an SSD in a 20 year old PC and you won't think twice about what's in it. I'm a huge advocate of people don't need a new computer until it breaks.

I use Arch btw.


I jest ofc. More of a Fedora guy but my stance has always been user freedom. The distro should start as pure of non-FOSS components as possible but the OS shouldn’t go out of its way to make installing them difficult. This lets users easily select their preferred level of software purity if they want that.

There are unfortunately some things that I think Windows does better, I’m tragically on Windows again because…school but whatever, eventually I’ll get around to make a second boot drive and use that for most everything I can. The only thing I genuinely think Windows is much superior than Linux for is battery life

Learn some how to do PCIe pass through in a VM and you'll never need to duel boot again. I probably sound like a shill at this point, but I'm going tonsay it anyway. Linux Mint is moving away from being based on Ubuntu and working towards being a pure Debian fork. Whenever I got into Linux, like REALLY into it, Debian is what I used to compile my own OS. I've since moved on to doing more useful things with my time like, idk, nearly anything else. That's a lie, I spend most of my free time arguing with strangers on the internet and eating cheese.

 

[trparky]

I would like to point out that this is why I use Linux Mint and why I get made fun of by other linux users for dailying it.

That's the thing, if the Linux community has any goal of essentially seeing Microsoft be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of history, then the idea of saying that someone is less of a Linux user just because they use a more easy-to-use distro needs to be done away with. Again, that's just another example of that elitism that you've spoken of that's been such a plague on Linux for so long.

So I actually have a theory for this, it's a driver thing. you aren't the first person who has brought this up, either. Most updates are to fix or improve something that's old. older hardware and drivers are more likely to interact with that older code that the update was there to "fix".

You might be right about that. APIs are being updated and if drivers aren't being updated to reflect the API changes, then yes... major problems can and will appear.

my problem is I have computers in my house that are almost 10 years old that are still fine for browsing the internet or watching YouTube.

I kind of find that hard to believe when modern web browsers are just so damn heavy in terms of how bloated they are. And we're not even talking about how modern browsers spawn no many sub-processes. I can't help but to think that it would bring a quad-core CPU to its knees.

 

[atomicgirl]

It's funny though, I've yet to be hit by one of these show-stopping bugs. I can't explain it. Windows 11 has been 99% rock solid stable for me. Why do some people have constant issues while I sit back and have virtually none?

Because you haven't come across the update that will break your machine. I had no issues with Windows 10 for years until this past month, when a recent update completely messed up two machines within days of each other. Windows updates also arbitrarily break programs that otherwise would work fine otherwise.

 

[yRaz]

That's the thing, if the Linux community has any goal of essentially seeing Microsoft be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of history, then the idea of saying that someone is less of a Linux user just because they use a more easy-to-use distro needs to be done away with. Again, that's just another example of that elitism that you've spoken of that's been such a plague on Linux for so long.

Linux elitistism was always one of its biggest problems. I've become exhausted with windows and I know that the only reason to make it "less important" is to get people to stop using it. I'm not asking the whole world to stop using it, just enough people to make a significant dent in its marketshare. So, I bring up Linux elisitism when being a Linux missionary and tell people how to avoid it. It's still there, but when I say the last 2 years has been really great for Linux I think the largest part is that the Linux elitists are starting to finally shut the f*** up. They can go use TempleOS or something.

I kind of find that hard to believe when modern web browsers are just so damn heavy in terms of how bloated they are. And we're not even talking about how modern browsers spawn no many sub-processes. I can't help but to think that it would bring a quad-core CPU to its knees.

You would be surprised, a quad core with 4 gigs of ram is fine to run Firefox. If you want to run Chrome or chromium then things change really quick. Chrome makes browsing seem faster than it is by loading pages before you need them and lots of what it is doing is never seen by the user. It's why it is such a resource hog. Browsers don't need as many resources as it would look like they do in task manager. It's the opposite. They look at what the rest of the system is doing and use more resources than they need to give a "snapier" user experience. The more resources your PC has the more the browser will use.

 

[gdavid65]

You may not want that, but for Linux to be a mass-market operating system, it needs to be. One should be able to sit down at their computer and just have things work. No trying to make it work, no tweaking, no nothing. It needs to just work. Period.

Well Linux "just works" as well as Windows.. until something goes wrong. But just in the same fashion, if something goes wrong with your Windows box, good luck fixing that thing. At least with Linux you may have some semblance of reaching out/reading and getting help to fix it.

With either problem however, often the easiest, and less time consuming thing is just to re-install the whole f'ing thing... so it's not much difference.

However, I'd argue, recovery is a heck of a lot easier with Linux where just have to backup your /home/<user> directory and put it back and nearly everything will be as you left it.

 

[gdavid65]

I've been a Microsoft user since the DOS days, and well, every year since, and it seems like we are at the point where Windows 11+12 seems like it is circling the drain fairly obviously now.

It's fully reverted back to windows 95/98 era where it forced things like ie3 and AOL onto your PC even though you never really wanted the f'ing thing. Then everybody pushed back with "f you Microsoft I'm sick of your b.s.", and MS gradually started removing some of the shovelware in about Windows 7, which everybody loved. But now it is going full circle.

The constant shoving in your face with Edge + other Microsoft services has definitely got worse in Windows 11. I can't imagine 12 getting any better, and in fact I've got serious concerns it won't become much worse. "Hey Clippy-Pilot-GPT has discovered you've got a bunch of tasks that we can help you with, would you like me to <**** your life> right now ??" It just seems now Windows is even more obviously a marketing tool for everything Microsoft wants to push, and Office is no longer it's number one destination.

Other than games... and maybe the newish Nvidia/AI learning thing if that is for you, I don't see what Windows is actually good for these days. It sucks for development (docker/etc), it sucks for servers, and as a "lets launch a browser to do everything" you'd be just as well served with any other o/s.

If Steam wants to move more users to Linux for gaming, it really does not seem to be much a user battle, but more the tough one of the hard love/force in by game developers for DirectX built up over the years.

 

[yRaz]

Well Linux "just works" as well as Windows.. until something goes wrong. But just in the same fashion, if something goes wrong with your Windows box, good luck fixing that thing. At least with Linux you may have some semblance of reaching out/reading and getting help to fix it.

With either problem however, often the easiest, and less time consuming thing is just to re-install the whole f'ing thing... so it's not much difference.

However, I'd argue, recovery is a heck of a lot easier with Linux where just have to backup your /home/<user> directory and put it back and nearly everything will be as you left it.

It's really hard to break Linux these days. In order to do anything to break it you need to know BASH scripting and enter the admin password atleast once, usually twice to confirm. You can Uninstall the bootloader if you want but you have to know what youre doing to do that

 

[loki1944]

I've been using Linux Mint since 2019, I'm throughly done with windows. And, frankly, the last 2 years have been great because Valve has been dumping millions into Proton for Linux gaming development.

M$ can go drink their own piss, their days are numbered.

For me linux is a no go; just too complicated; even W98SE installation and use is a far moere bug/driver/issue free experience than any linux distro; I tried Steam OS and half my library of games wouldn't even run. I'll just have to cut the steam cord and stick to Matrix/Slitherine/GoG.

 

[trparky]

For me linux is a no go; just too complicated; even W98SE installation and use is a far moere bug/driver/issue free experience than any linux distro; I tried Steam OS and half my library of games wouldn't even run. I'll just have to cut the steam cord and stick to Matrix/Slitherine/GoG.

Maybe in two or three more years, things will get better but as of right now, Linux isn't ready for prime time in the mass market.

 

[Ben Myers]

The Steam survey provides data about computers running Steam, but not about non-gaming computers.