August’s Steam Hardware & Software survey shows a subtle but meaningful reshuffle in the PC gaming landscape: Nvidia’s midrange GPUs continue to dominate the GPU charts, Windows 11 widens its lead among Steam users, and AMD’s recent gains in the CPU race hit a small but notable stall as Intel reclaimed a sliver of ground in the August snapshot.
The Steam Hardware & Software Survey is Valve’s monthly, optional snapshot of the hardware and software ecosystem used by Steam clients. While not a globally representative market share dataset, it’s one of the most consistent, long-running indicators of what gamers actually run on their PCs. August’s release continues to reflect trends visible across the year: a GPU top‑list dominated by Nvidia xx60/xx70 models, gamer systems moving toward larger RAM footprints, and operating-system migration toward Windows 11. The raw Steam figures for August list Windows 11 at 60.39% of reported users and show the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 at 4.66%, narrowly ahead of the RTX 3060 (4.62%) and the RTX 4060 laptop GPU (4.43%). The TechSpot write-up that circulated alongside the official data summarized the same trends — the GPU top spot shuffling between the RTX 3060 and RTX 4060 family during 2025, AMD’s CPU share pulling back slightly after months of gains, and Windows 11 continuing its steady climb among Steam participants. That TechSpot summary is consistent with Valve’s published figures and community commentary.
Background / Overview
The Steam Hardware & Software Survey is Valve’s monthly, optional snapshot of the hardware and software ecosystem used by Steam clients. While not a globally representative market share dataset, it’s one of the most consistent, long-running indicators of what gamers actually run on their PCs. August’s release continues to reflect trends visible across the year: a GPU top‑list dominated by Nvidia xx60/xx70 models, gamer systems moving toward larger RAM footprints, and operating-system migration toward Windows 11. The raw Steam figures for August list Windows 11 at 60.39% of reported users and show the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 at 4.66%, narrowly ahead of the RTX 3060 (4.62%) and the RTX 4060 laptop GPU (4.43%). The TechSpot write-up that circulated alongside the official data summarized the same trends — the GPU top spot shuffling between the RTX 3060 and RTX 4060 family during 2025, AMD’s CPU share pulling back slightly after months of gains, and Windows 11 continuing its steady climb among Steam participants. That TechSpot summary is consistent with Valve’s published figures and community commentary. What the August numbers actually say
GPU standings and the midrange’s continued strength
- NVIDIA still dominates discrete GPUs reported in the survey: Team Green accounts for roughly three quarters of the card mix in the discrete-GPU list, while AMD holds a significantly smaller portion (about 17.3% as reported in commentary on the release). The August leaderboard shows the RTX 4060 at the top of the list for that month with 4.66%, closely followed by the RTX 3060 at 4.62%, and the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU at 4.43%. These three cards — and other xx60 / xx70 variants — populate most of the top 11 GPU slots. (store.steampowered.com, techspot.com, techspot.com, store.steampowered.com)
CPU market dynamics — a temporary reversal
- The CPU side of the survey has been where AMD made the biggest year‑to‑date gains: months earlier AMD briefly surged past 40% adoption among Steam respondents thanks to the popularity of Ryzen X3D parts and favorable value/performance ratios. But August’s snapshot shows a small retreat — AMD’s CPU share dropped by roughly 0.23 percentage points in August while Intel recovered a small amount. TechSpot flagged this first month‑to‑month drop since February as notable and pointed to Intel’s rebound in August, reversing a recent string of AMD increases. Steam’s interactive charts and multiple independent reviews confirm that AMD sits near the 40% threshold in the community sample, with Intel occupying the balance. (gamesradar.com)
- Important context: Steam’s CPU numbers track actual systems used by Steam players and are heavily influenced by the installed base of prebuilt PCs and laptops. Historically, OEMs have shipped large volumes of Intel platforms — so shifts on Steam can be driven by a combination of new retail purchases, upgrade cycles, and the popularity of specific enthusiast parts (for example, AMD’s 3D V‑Cache models). The short‑term back‑and‑forth in month‑to‑month figures is therefore expected; it’s the multi‑month trend that matters more for strategic analysis. (pcguide.com)
Windows 11 adoption on Steam keeps climbing
- Windows 11 moved up again in August to 60.39%, growing by +0.49 percentage points in the Steam sample. Windows 10 sat at about 35.08% in Valve’s August table. Those numbers point to an accelerating migration among gamers — driven partly by new prebuilt/laptop defaults and partly by the fact that Windows 10’s end‑of‑support date (October 14, 2025) is now a pressing deadline for many users. Steam’s dataset shows Windows 11 clearly ahead among gaming rigs. (store.steampowered.com, store.steampowered.com, techspot.com, digitaltrends.com, pcgamesn.com, techspot.com, store.steampowered.com, store.steampowered.com, pcgamesn.com, store.steampowered.com, store.steampowered.com, pcgamesn.com)
For PC builders and gamers, the practical conclusion is straightforward: prioritize the hardware that best matches your resolution and latency targets, consider 32 GB RAM if you want future resilience, and treat monthly Steam numbers as useful, actionable signals — but not the sole decision criterion.
Source: TechSpot August Steam survey: AMD loses CPU ground to Intel, top GPU changes again
