Valve released the July 2026 Steam Hardware Survey, revealing that the older RTX 3060 remains the most popular gaming GPU. This data helps buyers understand which components dominate the PC gaming market right now. The results show that hardware trends are shifting toward higher memory capacities and newer architectures.
NVIDIA dominates market share as 16GB VRAM surpasses 8GB
NVIDIA holds a commanding 72.77% share of the GPU market, while AMD and Intel hold 18.74% and 8.08% respectively. The RTX 3060 leads individual models with a 3.71% share. Meanwhile, the newer RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti are gaining ground with 2.85% and 2.26% shares.
- GPU Market Share Leader: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (3.71%)
- VRAM Capacity Leader: 16GB (25.90%)
- GPU Vendor Share (NVIDIA): 72.77%
- GPU Vendor Share (AMD): 18.74%
- GPU Vendor Share (Intel): 8.08%
Memory capacity is seeing a significant upgrade across the user base. 16GB VRAM has become the most common GPU memory size at 25.90%, surpassing 8GB. System RAM also shows a shift, with 16GB at 40.97% and 32GB rising to 36.93%. The most common CPU configuration is now 8 cores, used by 27.85% of players.
Windows 11 64-bit continues to dominate the operating system landscape with over 70% market share. These figures indicate that gamers are moving away from older 6-core CPUs and 8GB VRAM setups. Buyers building new PCs should note that 16GB RAM and 8-core processors are now the standard baseline.
We looked at Steam Hardware Survey closely — see our earlier coverage on Palit GeForce RTX 3060 Infinity 2. The survey data reflects voluntary participation, so it may not capture all low-end or offline users. The July 2026 results confirm that NVIDIA's RTX 3060 remains the top choice for PC gamers.
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