Steam's October hardware survey has landed, and it basically performed a round trip compared to the previous month's results.
In September, I noted that the massive 4.77% jump in 32GB RAM systems was likely due to an influx of Chinese players, as it lined up with a 7.42% growth in the language on Valve's platform.
That appears to have been true. The 32GB tier took a massive 5.16% dive in October, falling back to 37.06%.
At the same time, the 16GB tier moved back into top position with a 3.60% increase to arrive at 41.42%. Users polled with Simplified Chinese as their main language dropped 9.41%.
The bigger news for many of our readers is the jump in Windows 11 adoption, which continues at a fairly steady pace.
Steam's share of Windows 11 users continues to rise
In October, Windows 11 users on Steam climbed by a respectable 1.17% to 72.51% overall. This caused Windows 10's share to drop 2.5%, hitting 21.11%.
Steam's hardware survey is not mandatory, and results depend on who decides to opt in. This can skew results from month to month, as we saw in September 2026.
This is a better improvement than September, which saw just a 0.37% rise for Windows 11. In the same month, Windows 10 also rose by 0.71%.
Are gamers suddenly abandoning Windows 10 at a faster pace? Probably not. What's more likely is another correction to do with the polled sample. Windows 10 is still holding onto just more than a fifth of the overall OS share among Windows, Linux, and macOS.
NVIDIA's RTX 3060 reclaims the top spot
Another interesting tidbit from the October survey lands in the GPU section. Whereas last month the RTX 5070 took top place with a significant 5.86% share, it fell by 2.3% in October to land at 3.56%.
The GPU to replace it as the most common amongst polled Steam users? The legendary NVIDIA RTX 3060, jumping 0.08% to hit 3.62% overall.
Looking at the overall results, 8GB GPUs (especially the RTX 3060) are back in top spots alongside 1920x1080 monitors, which now make up 50.23% (a 2.32% improvement since last month).
If RAM and storage prices were indeed driving users to upgrade, last month's 32GB RAM and RTX 5070 anomalies wouldn't have been crushed out so quickly or so drastically.
To me, as I mentioned, this seems to be more of a correction for September's skewed survey than large moves by consumers as they deal with the ongoing RAM and storage crisis.
Windows Central's take
It seems to me, based on Steam's October survey, that PC gamers are continuing to update their software while holding onto their hardware.
For example, Windows 10's end-of-life support that was extended until October 2027 is still looming over many heads. At the same time, PC component prices are obscene, forcing gamers to reconsider upgrades.
This could be bad news for game developers, as many rely increasingly on hardware that's priced out of the average gamer's reality.
For next month, I'm keeping an eye on whether or not Windows 11 keeps rising and if RTX 50-series GPUs get another boost in shares against older cards.
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