Steam December Survey: GTX 1060 now the most popular GPU, Rift overtakes Vive

[midian182]

Steam’s monthly hardware and software survey results have arrived. December brought changes at the top of some categories, including the most popular graphics card and virtual reality headset.

In the GPU category, it’s Nvidia’s GTX 1060 that now stands above the rest. The card didn't actually see its usage increase; it fell, but by less than the other top GPUs. November’s number one, the GTX 750 Ti, dropped by 4.13 percent, while the second-place GTX 960 went down by 3.52 percent, leaving the GTX 1060, which only fell by 0.85 percent, to take the top spot.

The biggest GPU winners are the GTX 970 and 1070, which increased by 1.14 percent and 1.05 percent, respectively. As usual, the highest AMD entry is far down the list: the Radeon 8800 series is the red team’s top performer. It took the 23^rd position with a share of just 0.54 percent.

Back in October’s survey, Windows 7 surprisingly took over from Windows 10 as Steam’s top OS—a phenomenon attributed to the popularity of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in China and the number of people who still use the Windows 7 in the country. The older system remains on top, but users have decreased by 15.10 percent while Windows 10 is up by 13.15 percent. Additionally, simplified Chinese is still the most common language (49.04 percent) among Steam users.

Another change is in Steam users' virtual reality platform preference. Ever since it launched in 2016, the HTC Vive has constantly been the headset of choice, ahead of the Oculus Rift. But the Facebook-owned company will be pleased to see its device finally move ahead of the competition, if only by 0.01 percent.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/72530-steam-december-survey-gtx-1060-now-most-popular.html

 

[dirtyferret]

In April 2017, quad cores overtook dual cores as most popular in the CPU stat area. It only took 10 years...perhaps the six core revolution that some people think will take over in 2018 may take a bit longer...like when the new consoles launch in 2020-2021...

 

[sac39507]

No surprise here. A $200 card that performs better than the $600 GTX 980 that was the top dog just two years ago. Not everyone has $600-$800 to spend.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

That $350 Black Friday sale for the Rift probably helped... I'll bet HTC is taking note. Time to drop the price guys.

I will say the Vive has superior tracking and is a lot more reliable than the Rift's, but it's not $200 better. And in my opinion the Rift is better in other areas, the displays and lenses are of better quality I think, and the headset and controllers are lighter. So I just don't think the $200 price difference is just.

 

[tractorphil]

I’m still rocking my GTX 960 but will be upgrading this year

 

[christianreyes]

That unspecified network speed taking everything

Buying a 4k monitor is the best decision I have made

 

[Shoam]

How can you still trust this survey? The last few months have seen extreme changes in results that don't seem to make sense together, such as increased popularity of Intel quad cores, which were expensive until very recently (and still are if you consider motherboard prices), along with that of cheap, older-generation cards like the 750 Ti.

 

[hahahanoobs]

How can you still trust this survey? The last few months have seen extreme changes in results that don't seem to make sense together, such as increased popularity of Intel quad cores, which were expensive until very recently (and still are if you consider motherboard prices), along with that of cheap, older-generation cards like the 750 Ti.

Agreed. The 970 was top spot for over a year and then overtaken by a 750 Ti and then the 1060?!

 

[Polycount]

I’m still rocking my GTX 960 but will be upgrading this year

Still using a 970 myself, but I'm hoping to make the switch over to at least a 1070 sometime next month. Here's hoping prices normalize a bit.

 

[Vulcanproject]

How can you still trust this survey? The last few months have seen extreme changes in results that don't seem to make sense together, such as increased popularity of Intel quad cores, which were expensive until very recently (and still are if you consider motherboard prices), along with that of cheap, older-generation cards like the 750 Ti.

A large part of it has been put down to the influx of Chinese users because of PUBG in just 12 months. Steamspy has published a figure that said nearly 80 percent of Chinese accounts owned PUBG.

Look at the statistic that shows how simplified Chinese has rapidly overtaken English as the most common system user language. November 2016 simplified Chinese made up 8.6 percent. Here is a link to the November 2016 survey, 13 months ago. https://web.archive.org/web/20161215203208/http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

Now? It's 49 percent as the article says. Absolutely incredible. This could significantly explain such huge hardware swings in a short period. It would also possibly explain such a large rise in the reported figures of cards like the 750ti, despite it being a couple generations old now.

 

[Shoam]

How can you still trust this survey? The last few months have seen extreme changes in results that don't seem to make sense together, such as increased popularity of Intel quad cores, which were expensive until very recently (and still are if you consider motherboard prices), along with that of cheap, older-generation cards like the 750 Ti.

A large part of it has been put down to the influx of Chinese users because of PUBG in just 12 months. Steamspy has published a figure that said nearly 80 percent of Chinese accounts owned PUBG.

Look at the statistic that shows how simplified Chinese has rapidly overtaken English as the most common system user language. November 2016 simplified Chinese made up 8.6 percent. Here is a link to the November 2016 survey, 13 months ago. https://web.archive.org/web/20161215203208/http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

Now? It's 49 percent as the article says. Absolutely incredible. This could significantly explain such huge hardware swings in a short period. It would also possibly explain such a large rise in the reported figures of cards like the 750ti, despite it being a couple generations old now.

How can you still trust this survey? The last few months have seen extreme changes in results that don't seem to make sense together, such as increased popularity of Intel quad cores, which were expensive until very recently (and still are if you consider motherboard prices), along with that of cheap, older-generation cards like the 750 Ti.

A large part of it has been put down to the influx of Chinese users because of PUBG in just 12 months. Steamspy has published a figure that said nearly 80 percent of Chinese accounts owned PUBG.

Look at the statistic that shows how simplified Chinese has rapidly overtaken English as the most common system user language. November 2016 simplified Chinese made up 8.6 percent. Here is a link to the November 2016 survey, 13 months ago. https://web.archive.org/web/20161215203208/http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

Now? It's 49 percent as the article says. Absolutely incredible. This could significantly explain such huge hardware swings in a short period. It would also possibly explain such a large rise in the reported figures of cards like the 750ti, despite it being a couple generations old now.

I can believe it WAS the case until last month, but this survey is off the charts even compared to the last few months. It looks like Steam made some changes meant to counterbalance the influence of PUBG. Look at the 750 Ti's numbers since August:

5.84%
6.22%
12.70%
14.61%
10.48%

The 4-core adoption numbers tell a similar story:

56.33%
58.66%
70.20%
73.44%
69.29%

Windows 7 dropped by more than 15% this month! Something must have changed since November.

 

[Evernessince]

In April 2017, quad cores overtook dual cores as most popular in the CPU stat area. It only took 10 years...perhaps the six core revolution that some people think will take over in 2018 may take a bit longer...like when the new consoles launch in 2020-2021...

Pretty big difference though, dual cores didn't really require any special optimization or multi-threading. the OS would run on one core and your application would run on the second. Things do have to be multi-threaded to take advantage of a quad core though and it's not that much different then a six core. Once split your program into distinct parts and theads, it's a hell of allot easier to add more. Server applications and console games have been able to use more than 6 cores for awhile now. The only thing that was keeping the consumer PC industry behind was Intel monopolizing the market. Ironic that they not only let AMD catch up but also let ARM come out of nowhere and mature to the point where they are now releasing server processors and threatening Intel's bread and butter.

We also have APIs and Game engines that make the whole process easier now as well.

 

[Peter Farkas]

How can you still trust this survey? The last few months have seen extreme changes in results that don't seem to make sense together, such as increased popularity of Intel quad cores, which were expensive until very recently (and still are if you consider motherboard prices), along with that of cheap, older-generation cards like the 750 Ti.

Agreed. The 970 was top spot for over a year and then overtaken by a 750 Ti and then the 1060?!

China...

 

[Footlong]

How can you still trust this survey? The last few months have seen extreme changes in results that don't seem to make sense together, such as increased popularity of Intel quad cores, which were expensive until very recently (and still are if you consider motherboard prices), along with that of cheap, older-generation cards like the 750 Ti.

Steam has grew outside of the US, mainly China where newer middle class can afford a new graphic card. Keep in mind they are talking about GTX 1060 which has two versions 3Gb and 6Gb, the first is fairly cheap in there. Shame the RX 580 4Gb is not top 10. Great card too.

 

[hahahanoobs]

China...

China jumped all over the 750 Ti a year after the 970 was top dGPU and then went back up to the 1060?

 

[DaveBG]

I guess this does not include the people that buy 100-200 radeons at once... for you know ... computing...

 

[Peter Farkas]

China jumped all over the 750 Ti a year after the 970 was top dGPU and then went back up to the 1060?

I guess you got a point LOL

 

[alabama man]

I’m still rocking my GTX 960 but will be upgrading this year

Still using a 970 myself, but I'm hoping to make the switch over to at least a 1070 sometime next month. Here's hoping prices normalize a bit.

I'm waiting for the 1180 or 1170, I have 970 and a 1080p g-sync display so don't need more yet, competitive games run over 120fps and more demanding games look smooth even at 50fps thanks to g-sync. Waiting for 4K HDR IPS g-sync monitors to drop price, decent size one still costs more than my computer. 1440p wouldn't be justified upgrade for me. If you have 1440p or 4K display I support your decision as 970 can't really run games even at 1440p from what I've read and heard from friend.

 

[Polycount]

I'm waiting for the 1180 or 1170, I have 970 and a 1080p g-sync display so don't need more yet, competitive games run over 120fps and more demanding games look smooth even at 50fps thanks to g-sync. Waiting for 4K HDR IPS g-sync monitors to drop price, decent size one still costs more than my computer. 1440p wouldn't be justified upgrade for me. If you have 1440p or 4K display I support your decision as 970 can't really run games even at 1440p from what I've read and heard from friend.

I'm a bit of an FPS snob, so getting as close to the 144 FPS my monitor allows is ideal for me. 60 looks choppy after making the switch - I only have my stupid brain to thank for that.

I purposely "downgraded" to a cheaper (but higher quality) 1920x1080p, 24" 144hz Asus monitor from a more expensive (but slightly more flimsy) 2560x1440p, 27" 60Hz Acer monitor because I realized the larger screen made 1440p look identical to a 1080p monitor on a smaller screen.

Also, you're absolutely correct that a 970 can't handle 1440p smoothly - I'd advise others to avoid making the same mistake I did. You can get a better monitor at a smaller size and resolution for a much better price!