July Steam Survey: RTX 5000 surge, new top GPU, 4 in 10 participants using AMD CPUs

[midian182]

What just happened? Here's a clear indication that the supply and pricing problems which have plagued Nvidia's RTX 5000 series are easing: the cards experienced a large uptick in user share in the latest Steam survey. However, there's still no sign of AMD's 9000-series in the main GPU chart, where the RX 7600 XT has only just appeared. Elsewhere, we've got a new most-popular card among participants, and AMD processors have passed a milestone.

Starting with the main GPU chart, July's results show that in the long-running battle between the RTX 3060 and RTX 4060 laptop GPU for the top spot, the Ampere card has once again jumped ahead of the mobile chip.

Most popular GPUs among Steam survey participants in July

The more interesting data comes from the GPU user-share changes during July. The biggest increase in the month belonged to the RTX 5070, up 0.33%. It was followed by the RTX 5060 in second place. The RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti were also in the top ten when it came to largest gains. Even the hugely expensive RTX 5090 saw growth.

Top-performing GPUs among Steam survey participants in July

Lovelace's increasing popularity illustrates how the cards are finally seeing their stock levels improve. More importantly, there are also some cards available at their MSRP, including the RTX 5070 on Newegg ($549).

Beyond the prices, Lovelace cards have faced plenty of criticism for their minor performance upgrades compared to the previous-gen equivalents. But it appears plenty of people who are upgrading are still opting for Nvidia's latest and most powerful products.

Returning to the GPU list, AMD's Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT have yet to break into the main chart. They launched at the start of March, though it appears more difficult to find them at (or close to) their respective MSRPs compared to some Nvidia models. The RX 9060 XT, meanwhile, only launched in June.

One AMD card that has just entered the main GPU chart is the Radeon RX 7600 XT. It released in January 2024 with a $329 MSRP.

Moving to the CPU section, AMD reached a milestone in July when it finally passed a 40% share. Team Red has seen the number of participants using its processors increase each month for while now. With Intel falling below 60%, how long before AMD CPUs become more popular than Team Blue's in the Steam Survey? A scenario that not too long ago would have been unimaginable.

Elsewhere in the survey, Windows 11's share continues to rise and is now close to 60% as its predecessor falls – Windows 10's end-of-life date is getting closer, which is having an influence. The OS section also shows that Linux's popularity keeps growing and has reached a record high of 2.89%.

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July Steam Survey: RTX 5000 surge, new top GPU, 4 in 10 participants using AMD CPUs

 

[yRaz]

I have a feeling Linux will be able to reach 10% by 2030 if MS keeps pushing their BS. MS seems to go in cycles of winning OSs and losers so maybe they're just doubling down on Windows 11 as an experiment and Windows 12 will be a winner. However, we need a real competitor in the market so I'll probably keep using and rooting for Linux at this point even if Windows 12 is a winner.

 

[nnguy2]

So the 9070 sold more than 5080 but doesn't make the list. Stop reporting on steam survey it's monthly nonsense.

 

[loki1944]

So intel is still clearly in the lead

 

[yRaz]

So the 9070 sold more than 5080 but doesn't make the list. Stop reporting on steam survey it's monthly nonsense.

All that survey is saying is that the 5080 sold MORE last month than the 9070 did.

 

[poshflamingos]

So intel is still clearly in the lead

That's not what the survey shows. It shows Intel has 60% of the systems being used on Steam, not that Intel had 60% of the sales this month. The vast majority of those systems in use are old builds sold long ago, which obviously don't contribute any money for Intel today.

In fact, the survey shows the opposite. The fact that AMD has been consistently gaining on Intel in Steam user share can only happen if Intel sales have stagnated while AMD has had a majority of monthly sales.

 

[Lew Zealand]

So intel is still clearly in the lead

Yup. My i5-8400 is still in use from 7 years ago, I'm sure Intel appreciated that $190 in 2018.

But I haven't built an Intel PC in 5+ years, 5 AMD builds since then so those continue to add to AMD's new sales and increasing marketshare from 2020 through today as shown in the Steam CPU trends.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

I have a feeling Linux will be able to reach 10% by 2030 if MS keeps pushing their BS. MS seems to go in cycles of winning OSs and losers so maybe they're just doubling down on Windows 11 as an experiment and Windows 12 will be a winner. However, we need a real competitor in the market so I'll probably keep using and rooting for Linux at this point even if Windows 12 is a winner.

I suppose a large part of this increase in Linux users is due to SteamDeck.

 

[yRaz]

I suppose a large part of this increase in Linux users is due to SteamDeck.

Well that would be difficult to calculate as many users game one windows and buy a steam deck as a secondary system. Valve has around 130M users and sold roughly 6 Million steam decks. I don't think simply having a steam deck would count linux in the operating system statistics as the number would be a lot higher than it is. I am speculating here, but I don't think Valve would include the steamdeck in their steam hardware survey as it would make it's results irrelevant. People are wondering what people are using on the Desktop/PC side of things. Including the steam decks hardware and software in the survey would skew the results significantly.

I also feel that there is enough people dissatisfied with Windows and Microsoft right now that any inconvenience Linux might pose to a power user is worth dealing with or working around. That, and Linux is nearly as inconvenient as it once was. The only things that don't work on it now are things that are intentionally blocked via DRM and as long as you aren't playing an online only game, you can work around that by just downloading a crack.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

When SteamOS fully launches, I predict Linux will jump to 5%.

I have an older gaming PC just waiting for it. Depending on how that goes, the living room gaming PC would be next.

 

[nnguy2]

All that survey is saying is that the 5080 sold MORE last month than the 9070 did.

Until steam discloses their sampling technique it's safe to assume it's sample of pcs using steam. That means it representative of what hardware are in steam pcs. It doesn't capture sales just what's in steam pcs.

 

[yRaz]

Until steam discloses their sampling technique it's safe to assume it's sample of pcs using steam. That means it representative of what hardware are in steam pcs. It doesn't capture sales just what's in steam pcs.

if Valve included the steam deck then the OS's would read closer to 5%. 6m steam decks divided by 136m users = 0.044% linux users from steam deck alone. No, we don't KNOW, but the math allows us to extrapolate from the data that it like is not from the steam deck. If that angers you then idk what to tell you

EDIT:

Steam Survey For July Shows Linux Use Approaching 3% - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

The share of SteamOS making up that of Linux users on the steam survey actually dropped with Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora making up the biggest increases in shares. That Fedora thing really threw me off when I saw it. But with SteamOS's share of the steam linux segment dropping I feel it is safe to say that the increase in linux users is not made up by the SteamDeck. Also, the Steam Deck been out for 3 years now, those who want one have mostly already bought one.

 

[Subset6]

If/when SteamOS is released as a common PC Linux distro (non-handhelds) it will make huge waves, I can see this incoming at some point and I bet MS does as well.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

If/when SteamOS is released as a common PC Linux distro (non-handhelds) it will make huge waves, I can see this incoming at some point and I bet MS does as well.

My thoughts as well. I figure Valve is expanding to handhelds first as a test and once those bugs/issues are worked out a common distro is next.

 

[Beerfloat]

So the 9070 sold more than 5080 but doesn't make the list. Stop reporting on steam survey it's monthly nonsense.

It did? What makes you say that?

 

[yRaz]

It did? What makes you say that?

when the 9070 and 9070XT came out they initially sold MORE than the 5080's for like the first 2 months. The thing is, the 5080 has been creeping closer to MSRP and the 9070/9070XT have carried a steady premium over MSRP and now that there aren't tons of reviewers nay-saying all nVidia products left and right, things have kind of equaled out. The other is is that AMD cards are mostly out of stock unless you want to pay 20-30% over MSRP and the 5080's are readily available. That said, people in the market for a 5080 aren't the same people in the market for AMD cards. People buying 5080's are the ones willing to pay a premium but can't justify the 5090's cost. To be fair, the 5080 is a power house, is it a $1300 power house? I don't think so, but there also isn't any card to compete with it in that market segment.

I don't think the 5080 sales are coming from people building PCs and more from people sales of prebuilts. If you buy a Prebuilt the cost of the 5080 creeps closer to $1000-1100 than the $1300 that the market commands. Those of us who are enthusiasts think prebuilts are the Anti-Christ, but they make up A LOT of PC sales. I do a decent side business of helping people pick out parts and assembling them for those not comfortable with the whole thing. To be honest, it surprises me how many people still aren't comfortable building their own PC, esspecially with the money they are spending. Frankly, I have more fun building PCs than I do actually using them.

 

[nnguy2]

It did? What makes you say that?

And you're going to tell me 5090 sold more than either 9070 SKU since launch? Come on

 

[loki1944]

That's not what the survey shows. It shows Intel has 60% of the systems being used on Steam, not that Intel had 60% of the sales this month. The vast majority of those systems in use are old builds sold long ago, which obviously don't contribute any money for Intel today.

In fact, the survey shows the opposite. The fact that AMD has been consistently gaining on Intel in Steam user share can only happen if Intel sales have stagnated while AMD has had a majority of monthly sales.

60% is a clear lead. And AMD can't touch defence contracting either.

 

[poshflamingos]

60% is a clear lead. And AMD can't touch defence contracting either.

That does not mean 60% of current sales, genius. That's the whole point of my comment, read it again until you manage to comprehend what my comment says.

 

[SRB]

60% is a clear lead. And AMD can't touch defence contracting either.

What does defense contracting have to do with Steam????

 

[Lew Zealand]

That does not mean 60% of current sales, genius. That's the whole point of my comment, read it again until you manage to comprehend what my comment says.

He repeated the exact same thing again so he'll believe what he wants to, regardless of the obvious situation that Intel has been steadily losing market share for over half a decade and continues to slide. When Intel dips below the inevitable 50%, their die hard fans will come up with some other mantra to chant.

 

[J95qRP7]

@midian182

Lovelace's increasing popularity illustrates how the cards are finally seeing their stock levels improve. More importantly, there are also some cards available at their MSRP, including the RTX 5070 on Newegg ($549).

Beyond the prices, Lovelace cards have faced plenty of criticism for their minor performance upgrades compared to the previous-gen equivalents. But it appears plenty of people who are upgrading are still opting for Nvidia's latest and most powerful products.

I think you mean Blackwell, not Ada Lovelace in this part of the article?

 

[OortCloud]

AMD blew another open goal by overpricing and lying about MSRP. As with every AMD GPU launch they just tried to copy NVidia pricing and disappeared without a trace.

I expect we are 3 months from the AMD price drop for 90 series they do when they realise they have failed yet again but by then the supers are on their way and the cards become another footnote.

 

[Beerfloat]

And you're going to tell me 5090 sold more than either 9070 SKU since launch? Come on

What numbers do you have to be able to state either way?

 

[loki1944]

What does defense contracting have to do with Steam????

It has to do with GPU/CPU sales overall.