Most folks in tech enthusiast circles have heard of - or own - a Steam Deck and have possibly even installed SteamOS-based Linux distributions like Bazzite or Chimera. The small but growing backlash against Windows 11's strict hardware requirements and forced upgrades may have become evident in the latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey, which shows an all-time high of 3.20% for Linux.
That figure is a 0.15% rise in just one month, quite an impressive figure once you consider that for years on end, Steam Linux usage was under or barely over 1%. The launch of the Steam Deck in 2022 naturally increased that figure, but the gaming community seems be rallying around SteamOS derivatives, as the OS family had a 1.9% share in 2023, 3.05% in 2025, and now 3.20% as of this writing.
Over on the hardware side, AMD processors continue their steady march against Intel. AMD now commands 43.56% of the gaming processor market, versus 56.44% for Team Blue. Save for one month, Intel's CPU share has been steadily dropping for nearly one year straight and shows no signs of stopping.
The CPU core breakdowns also tell an interesting story. Over the past month alone, CPUs with 8 physical cores or higher saw a combined 1.18% uptick (under Windows, at least), meaning that gamers are buying or upgrading their machines at a pretty rapid clip, and potentially that folks are opting mostly for AMD systems.
As for gaming graphics cards, some surprising developments have arisen. The RTX 5070 is now the most common Blackwell GPU among the systems surveyed, posting a 0.33% gain to hit 2.12% of the overall pool. That's about as many users as those of the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti put together, which isn't the development we were expecting given the apparent pace of RTX 5060 adoption.
The RTX 5060 grew its share by 0.30% to hit 1.54% of systems surveyed. Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 Ti put up a 0.19% share increase to hit 1.09% of the pool, while the RTX 5080 grew its numbers by 0.14% to hit 0.96%.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Meanwhile, AMD's RDNA 4 cards remain notably absent as distinct data points in the survey. Whether this is a reporting issue on Valve's side or AMD's is unclear, but nine months into the life of RDNA 4, we'd expect at least token representation of these products in Valve's results. If it's not a technical issue, the implications for AMD's graphics division remain troubling.
While the Steam Hardware Survey isn't a rigorous examination of the market, it remains interesting to see how the broader market is responding to 2025's hardware launches. We'll continue to see what its tea leaves portend for gaming in 2026 as time rolls on. Be sure to check out the survey results for yourself.
Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals.
Although the Steam Deck is a worthy product on its own, it's not hard to imagine that Linux's rise is partly justified by Windows 11's shenanigans
It's not hard to imagine it, but is is hard to back that up with data from the Steam Hardware Survey. Since it claims that, along with the 0.15% growth in Linux usage since the previous survey, there was a 2.02% growth in Windows 11 usage over the same period.
It's not hard to imagine it, but is is hard to back that up with data from the Steam Hardware Survey. Since it claims that, along with the 0.15% growth in Linux usage since the previous survey, there was a 2.02% growth in Windows 11 usage over the same period.
It's not hard to imagine it, but is is hard to back that up with data from the Steam Hardware Survey. Since it claims that, along with the 0.15% growth in Linux usage since the previous survey, there was a 2.02% growth in Windows 11 usage over the same period.
Windows 11 64 bit 65.59% +2.02%Windows 10 64 bit 29.06% -2.08%
It's not hard to imagine it, but is is hard to back that up with data from the Steam Hardware Survey. Since it claims that, along with the 0.15% growth in Linux usage since the previous survey, there was a 2.02% growth in Windows 11 usage over the same period.
Also remember the hardware survey isn’t all users it’s a randomised sample.
Got to be a technical issue. I know there are lots of 9060/9070 users on the ground.
All the other numbers match up with what I’ve been seeing. The EOL got a lot of Windows 10 users moving, many pursued the extended support option for a year of delay, a few decided to gut it out, install Windows 10 IOT, or other hacky solutions, but many have been flooding the Linux reddits for support/assistance as well.
And a truly shocking number of “Not My OS” or “Never Linux” people have been tackling Linux installs, since the Linux game support is now approaching Windows levels, aside from kernel anti-cheats and intentional lockouts.
The future is coming, and the responses are entertainingly varied.
