Steam's latest hardware survey has been released, and while there is no real head scratching changes, it does continue to give us a glimpse into current market trends. In regards to CPU adoption, both six-core and eight-core processors now account for 12.2% and 2.2% respectively. Looking at just Windows data shows six-core processors gained a bit over 2% market share in 3 months. Meanwhile, eight-core offerings saw a market share increase of roughly 0.5%. Speaking of processors, Intel still dominates the market capturing an 82% share. AMD, while competitive in many tasks besides gaming still only has an 18% share. Looking at the data would lead one to believe AMD is gaining back market share; however looking at previous hardware surveys their current share is mostly holding steady. Considering Intel still offers better gaming performance for the time being its unlikely AMD will make any real gains in the Steam hardware survey until gaming performance reaches true parity.
Looking at graphics cards, NVIDIA still reigns supreme holding the same 75% market share they have been clutching for quite some time. AMD, on the other hand, continues to struggle, holding a paltry 15% share with Intel and their integrated graphics still managing to hold a 10% share. Considering AMD's only release as of late was the Radeon VII it is not all that surprising to see no change here. That said, NVIDIA's dominance is indeed not a good thing as it means competition is minimal, and pricing is likely to remain high. Right now according to the Steam hardware survey, NVIDIA currently holds the first 12 spots in regards to today's most popular graphics cards, which combine for a 52.8% share. The most popular of these being the GTX 1060. You have to go all the way down to 13th place to find an AMD graphics card which just so happens to be the Radeon RX 580 with its 1.1% share. To find the next AMD graphics card you have to go all the way down to 19th where the companies Radeon R7 Graphics holds steady at 0.87%. Hopefully, AMD's upcoming Navi graphics architecture can bring them back to prominence and drive more competition.
91 Comments on Steam Hardware Survey Shows AMD's Continued Struggle to Gain Market Share
Steam Hardware Survey should do all who opt in and it should flag each system that has been sampled so it can't be sampled again per survey (cybercafé machines count for one). But, as with all things, Valve doesn't care that much. It's just not a good measuring stick for what hardware gamers use. Asia is over-represented.
As of today, Steam is by far the best metric we have. If we were to believe some of the news circling in the AMD echo chamber these days, then we might get the impression that AMD is crushing Intel. But in reality, AMD isn't really outselling Intel globally, even in the custom-build market.
Secondly, those who are inclined to buy an 8-core Ryzen over an Intel option is probably not primarily a gamer.
Thirdly, people have different upgrade cycles. While a typical laptop may be replaced within 2-3 years, desktops generally last much longer, even among gamers. Why would anyone with a Haswell or better upgrade to a lesser gaming CPU from AMD? Many gamers even keep their CPUs across multiple graphics cards, especially since older Intel CPUs do fairly well in gaming.
But given the huge discrepancy between Nvidia's and AMD's market share in the last years, I don´t see anything unusual about being Nvidia's hardware to dominate the Steam survey.
Not to mention, most PC users playing fortnite have steam. Arent there more users on steam than epic? You post seems to allude you believe fornite players dont have steam for other games. Not all would have it, but I'd bet most would and re included here.
A late to that party...but yeah.
Anyway.. not surprising at all seeing the cold reception to Turing and the Radeon VII (rightfully so for both).
I was not referring to AMD VS Nvidia.
I was just trying to ask if now days Steam survey is accurate as many of top games from recent times has moved away from Steam.
Maybe if we look at other platforms where these games are launched, the survey will look different.
Maybe there will be a different portion of people who use cards line 1070TI, 1080TI or RTX cards, Vega cards, etc.
I was not trying to discriminate anybody.
I was bashed by some member as being AMD fan boy and Steam hater. :shadedshu:
I did not even mention AMD in my post.
I don't hate Steam either.
It used to be my main platform for buying games. I own around 90 games on Steam.
Tomb Raider games, Borderlands games, Merto Series, GTA games, a number of COD games, older Far Cry games, Bio Shock series are a few of the great games that I played in the history on Steam.
I was not amused to hear that Metro Exodus is not on Steam anymore and that I will also not be able to get Borderlands 3 on Steam. :cry:
Out of the top of my head: it's a more attractive product. Makes sense? Do you at least consider as probable the hypothesis that Intel CPUs are more attractive products for OEMs?
There's a logical explanation for both of these things and that's overrepresentation of cybercafés. This is why I don't put much stock in Steam Hardware Survey.
And RTX 2060 outselling it in ~2.5 months shouldn't come as a surprise, Vega has had supply issues, and was never really a good deal. If there are more Vegas sold, then it would be for non-gaming purposes.
It was just yesterday I was listening to a random video in the AMD echo chamber, where a guy was making the case for Nvidia being in big trouble and AMD about to rule gaming. I thought it was funny at first, until I realized how deep that guy's delusions really are, which is just sad. There is nothing wrong in wishful thinking, and while we all want AMD to return with a splash, some people just need to face reality. Really? Considering how biased in favor of AMD most of those channels are, AMD's sales should have been amazing as a result of it.
Fortnite is very popular among school children at least here in Germany.
My son who is 14 and all other classmates play daily this games. As far as I know neither him nor his friends have Steam.
They all play Fortnite mostly on Playstation but as well as computers.
Some have their own computers other use their parents. :p