Highlights

According to September 2025 data from Steam, the gaming hardware landscape is evolving rapidly. AMD processors have achieved a market share breakthrough, surpassing 40% for the first time. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU has become the most popular choice among gamers, surpassing both desktop RTX 4060 and the long-standing leader RTX 3060. This shift signals a new cycle of hardware upgrades.

Sentiment Analysis

• The sentiment surrounding AMD's rise in market share is overwhelmingly positive, as it represents a significant shift in the CPU market dynamic.
• NVIDIA's GPU positioning is viewed favorably, as it underscores the strong demand for portable yet powerful gaming solutions.
• The overall sentiment is hopeful and forward-looking, as these developments indicate a promising future for continued innovation in gaming hardware.

Article Text

The recent Steam hardware survey for September 2025 highlights significant changes in the gaming hardware market. AMD has achieved a historic high in processor market share, reaching 41.3%, a notable increment that disrupts Intel's long-standing dominance in the CPU segment. This momentum places AMD in a strong position to potentially surpass Intel among Steam users within the coming year, should current trends persist.

On the GPU front, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop version has emerged as the top favorite, claiming a 4.84% share, overtaking both its desktop counterpart and the previously dominant RTX 3060. This marks a shift towards lighter, powerful gaming laptops as the choice for modern gamers.

The new RTX 50 series from NVIDIA is rapidly gaining traction, with the RTX 5070 boasting a 1.69% market share, emerging as a leading model in the series. Anticipation builds as the RTX 5060 laptop model starts catching up with the RTX 4060, suggesting a rise in the RTX 50 series GPU market share.

Meanwhile, AMD's discrete GPUs have performed modestly, failing to make a significant impression, as evidenced by the absence of the RX 9000 series from the ranks.

Other hardware trends include increasing demand for high-performance components. The share of 8-core CPUs has risen to 25.28%, while 6-core CPUs' market share has dipped below 30% for the first time. In terms of GPU memory, 16GB graphics cards have seen a rapid rise to 7.52% market share, indicating an upgrade from the mainstream 8GB to meet high-resolution and complex gaming demands.

In the operating system arena, the impending end-of-support for Windows 10 by Microsoft at the end of October has spurred a transition among gamers. Windows 11's market share has increased to 66.08%, up 2.90% from the previous month, posing a strong challenge to Windows 10's prevalence, with the possibility of reaching over 70% soon.

Key Insights Table