Steam Hardware Survey shows RTX 5070 and 32GB RAM dominance

The September 2026 Steam Hardware and Software Survey reveals significant shifts in PC gaming hardware preferences. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 has emerged as the most widely used individual graphics card model, capturing a 5.86% usage rate.

In a notable shift for system memory, configurations with 32GB of RAM have overtaken 16GB systems for the first time, reaching a 42.22% share. Additionally, the adoption of 2560×1440 (2K QHD) resolution has increased to 27.04%, although 1920×1080 Full HD remains the most common resolution among Steam users.

NVIDIA has also introduced 'Preset C' for its Frame Generation technology, currently available in beta for GeForce RTX 40 and RTX 50 series users. This mode utilizes a lighter, faster algorithm for the second AI model used in frame generation to reduce processing load. While it can provide up to a 35% performance increase on certain hardware like the RTX 5060, the mode may involve minor trade-offs in image quality.