Operating System Preferences
The latest Software & Hardware Survey conducted by Valve has unveiled a notable shift within the Windows user base on Steam. As of July 2024, Windows 11 has seen a decline, dropping to approximately 45.81% of all Windows users on the platform. This marks a decrease of 0.82 percentage points from the previous month. Meanwhile, Windows 10 has experienced a resurgence, gaining 0.74 points to reach 50.16%, solidifying its position as the dominant operating system among Steam users.
Despite Valve’s discontinuation of support for Steam on Windows 7 and 8/8.1, remnants of these older systems still linger in the gaming community. The data indicates that 0.41% of users are on 64-bit Windows 7, reflecting a slight increase, while 0.08% continue to utilize 64-bit Windows 8.1.
The overwhelming majority of Steam users continue to favor Windows, with 96.55% of participants reporting its use, a slight dip of 0.06 points. Linux users account for 2.08% of the community, while Mac users represent 1.37%, showing a modest increase of 0.06 points. Among Linux distributions, Arch Linux leads with 0.17%, followed by Linux Mint 21.3 at 0.11% and Ubuntu 22.04 at 0.08%.
Hardware Insights from July 2024
Shifting focus to hardware, the survey reveals intriguing trends in processor usage. Intel maintains a stronghold with 67.40% of users, reflecting a gain of 0.60 points, while AMD holds 32.54%, experiencing a slight decline of 0.61 points. Microsoft’s processors remain minimal at 0.05%.
When examining CPU cores, 6-core processors are favored by 32.68% of users, marking a modest increase, while 8-core and 4-core processors account for 20.32% and 19.11%, respectively. Memory preferences show that 16GB remains the most popular choice at 45.93%, although it has seen a decrease of 1.30 points. In contrast, 32GB memory configurations have gained traction, now at 30.81%.
Graphics processing units also display notable trends, with the Nvidia RTX 3060 leading at 5.71%, followed closely by the Nvidia GTX 1650 at 3.88%. The Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti holds 3.47%, indicating a stable interest in these models.
In terms of video memory, 8GB is the most common, utilized by 35.44% of users, while 12GB and 6GB configurations follow at 18.39% and 13.86%, respectively. Display resolution preferences reveal that 57.28% of users opt for 1920 x 1080, although this figure has slightly decreased. Meanwhile, 2560 x 1440 has gained popularity, now at 20.03%.
For those interested in further details, the official Steam Hardware & Software Survey page offers comprehensive insights. Participation in this survey is voluntary and aims to provide a broad overview of user preferences across the platform.
