Steam’s latest Hardware Survey for December 2025 is out, ushering in the start of 2026 with a fresh look at what PC gamers are actually using. The big story remains the same: NVIDIA’s GeForce lineup continues to dominate overall usage, and the familiar “60-class” GPUs are still the most common choices across Steam. But there’s also a notable first—AMD’s RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 series has finally appeared on the survey for the first time.
NVIDIA’s most-used GPUs continue to be the go-to picks for mainstream gaming. Right now, the five most popular graphics cards on Steam are the GeForce RTX 3060, RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, RTX 4060, RTX 3050, and the GTX 1650. Together, those five models account for roughly 27% of all GPUs tracked on the platform, highlighting just how large the budget-to-midrange segment remains compared to the high-end.
The newer GeForce RTX 50 series (Blackwell) is also steadily growing its footprint. According to the latest results, the RTX 5070 is currently the most widely used RTX 50-series card on Steam with a 3.05% share. It’s followed by the RTX 5060 at 2.21%, RTX 5070 Ti at 1.94%, RTX 5060 Ti at 1.74%, RTX 5080 at 1.68%, and the RTX 5060 Laptop at 1.14%. At the top of the stack, the flagship RTX 5090 sits at 0.60%, while the RTX 5070 Ti Laptop shows up at 0.36%. Combined, the RTX 50 family accounts for 12.72% of the total GPU share, even though some models—like the RTX 5050 and many laptop variants—aren’t showing up yet.
On the AMD side, the most eye-catching change is the debut of the Radeon RX 9070 series on the Steam Hardware Survey. Throughout 2025, none of AMD’s RX 9000 GPUs appeared in the data, but December finally brings the first recorded presence of the RX 9070 family at 0.22%. That’s a small foothold—and it’s behind even the RTX 5090’s current share—yet it’s still a meaningful milestone since it signals the beginning of RDNA 4 adoption among Steam users.
AMD’s overall situation in the GPU charts remains a bit mixed. There’s a sizeable chunk listed under undisclosed “Radeon Graphics,” totaling 6.18% combined. Among clearly named AMD desktop GPUs, the Radeon RX 7800 XT leads with a 1.57% share, showing stronger visibility than the brand-new RX 9070 entries for now.
CPU trends, however, are painting an increasingly competitive picture. AMD has climbed to a 47.27% share on Steam, while Intel is at 55.47%. That narrowing gap suggests a market moving closer to an even split, as more gamers opt for Ryzen systems. The survey also indicates that 8-core, 6-core, and 12-core processors are seeing the biggest gains—an unsurprising shift as modern games (and everyday multitasking) increasingly benefit from more cores.
Display resolution preferences reinforce what most PC gamers prioritize today: performance and value. 1080p remains the most popular resolution by far with a 53.68% share. But 1440p continues to rise, now sitting at 21.77%, reflecting the growing appeal of sharper visuals without the extreme performance demands of 4K. Full 4K (2160p) still accounts for a small 0.64%, while ultrawide 3440×1440 (UWQHD) has edged up to 3.65%.
The reason 4K gaming remains relatively rare is straightforward: it’s expensive. Higher resolutions demand significantly more GPU power, and premium graphics card pricing has pushed top-tier performance further out of reach for many players. At the same time, mainstream GPU options often aren’t delivering the VRAM increases many gamers want, which also limits how comfortably users can jump to higher-resolution gaming.
Even though QD-OLED and OLED 4K monitors are widely viewed as some of the best gaming displays available, their cost still prevents mass adoption. If monitor prices come down further—and if more affordable GPUs arrive with stronger VRAM configurations—more Steam users may finally make the leap beyond 1080p and 1440p in larger numbers.
Overall, the December 2025 Steam Hardware Survey shows a PC gaming market that’s still dominated by accessible, performance-focused hardware, while next-gen GPUs slowly build momentum. AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 appearance may be small today, but it marks the start of RDNA 4 entering the mainstream tracking charts—and the next few surveys will reveal how quickly it can grow.
