Valve Steam Survey April 2026: Windows 11 Grows, Mid-Range PCs Still Dominate

As Valve revealed in its latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey for April 2026, Windows 11 continues to strengthen its position as the leading OS among gamers, while familiar mid-range hardware configurations remain the standard across the platform.

Windows 11 keeps pulling ahead

The May results highlight a steady shift toward Windows 11, which now accounts for 67.74% of all surveyed systems, marking a 0.89% increase. Meanwhile, Windows 10 holds 25.63% with almost no change, signaling a plateau as users continue upgrading.

Overall, Windows dominates Steam with a combined 93.47% share, up 1.14%. Competing platforms continue to lag behind, with Linux dropping to 4.52% and macOS declining to 2.01%, reinforcing their niche status in PC gaming.

CPU market remains competitive

Processor data shows a close race between the two major chipmakers. Intel leads with 54.81%, while AMD follows at 45.19%.

The most common CPU configuration remains a 6-core processor, used by 28.62% of players. This suggests that mainstream gaming setups continue to favor balanced performance over high-end configurations.

NVIDIA dominates GPU share

Graphics card data paints a clearer picture of market leadership. NVIDIA holds a commanding 73.21% share, far ahead of AMD at 18.6% and Intel at 7.81%.

Among individual models, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 remains the most widely used GPU at 3.99%, followed by the RTX 3050 (3.04%) and the newer RTX 5070 (2.86%). The data highlights strong adoption of RTX-class cards, even as newer generations begin to gain traction.

Mid-range hardware still defines the average PC

Despite rapid innovation in PC hardware, the typical gaming system remains firmly mid-range. The most common setup includes 16 GB of RAM (40.86%), 8 GB of VRAM (26.76%), and a 1920×1080 display resolution, still used by over half of surveyed users (52.21%).

This consistency indicates that most players prioritize affordability and stability over cutting-edge performance.

The latest survey confirms a clear trend: Windows 11 continues to expand its dominance, while Linux and macOS struggle to gain meaningful ground in gaming.

At the same time, the data shows that the “average” gaming PC has not dramatically changed, with 6-core CPUs, 16 GB RAM, and RTX GPUs forming the backbone of the Steam ecosystem.

In other Valve news, the company has confirmed the release date and pricing for the upcoming Steam Controller. It is also finalizing Steam Machine pricing, despite earlier delays tied to RAM supply constraints, as it prepares for a broader hardware push.

Via Neowin