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.
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.
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%.
