Steam's most popular RTX 40 series GPUs are found on gaming laptops, not graphics cards

Action
Steam's most popular RTX 40 series GPUs are found on gaming laptops, not graphics cards

The latest Steam Hardware Survey has been released, showing an increase in RTX 4060 laptops used on gaming platforms when compared to statistics from May to June 2024.

According to the video card data from the survey, RTX 4060 gaming laptop GPUs used by survey respondents increased by 0.74%, rising from 2.84% in May to 3.58% in June. While this may not seem like much of a leap, the next largest increase was the desktop RTX 4060-go, up 0.2%. The laptop version of the RTX 4060 is also the most popular Series 40 GPU on Steam.

The Steam hardware survey collects hardware data from (you guessed it) only a fraction of Steam's user base, and only from users who volunteer to participate. Still, the survey usually gives a fairly decent idea of trends in the PC gaming market.

The June survey also shows a decline in the usual GPU suspects: the RTX 3060, GTX 1060, GTX 1650, RTX 2060, etc. These older cards are likely declining as people upgrade. In fact, the general trend this month seems to be an overall increase in the adoption of current generation GPUs.

As we noted in April, most people upgrading from older GPUs to newer ones seem to be choosing Nvidia over AMD, given that Valve's Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED have AMD processors. This is by no means a small thing.

Don't be perplexed that people might choose to upgrade now; Nvidia's next generation architecture (probably Blackwell) is right around the corner and the Ada Lovelace GPU generation is coming to an end. Not long ago, super variants drove prices down.

Most importantly, inexpensive gaming laptops have been popping up in recent months. And you may have noticed that most gaming laptops under $1,000 have RTX 4060s. So now may be the perfect time to get your hands on one of these budget gaming laptops.

The mobile RTX 4060 does not have the full-blown AD107 chip found in desktop versions. However, with a TDP of 115W, which may reach 115W if you are lucky and the manufacturer is merciful enough, it has enough power to produce playable frame rates on the latest games. according to Dave, the somewhat underpowered RTX on the HP Omen Transcend 14 Even the 4060 is capable of great 1080p frame rates, and even 1440p is playable there.

Thus, it makes sense that mobile RTX 4060 GPUs are on the rise.

Another point worth noting in the hardware survey is that the number of Windows 11 Steam users continues to increase, with a corresponding decrease in Windows 10 users. This trend was noted in February.

While Windows 11 still accounts for less than half of Windows Steam users, at 46.63%, that number is growing, which is also not surprising given that Windows 12 is said to be released this year. Furthermore, this number is not surprising given that Microsoft's support for Windows 10 will end next year and AMD's upcoming mobile chips (which will no doubt be used in some portable gaming PCs) will not support Windows 10.

In short, the June Steam hardware survey confirms that the steam engine of progress is still rolling in little by little (or user by user).

Categories