Steam Survey reveals momentum behind octa-core and better CPUs - Windows 11 and VR headsets also gain traction

Valve has released its January 2024 Steam survey results indicating some notable changes compared to December 2023. This time, the stats that piqued our interest were the continued rise of gaming CPU core counts, with significant momentum behind octa-core and better CPUs. Windows 11 and VR headsets have also both enjoyed some recent traction.

Preferred core count in Steam systems

This upgrade pattern doesn't necessarily indicate users are shifting towards these higher core count CPUs exclusively for gaming but rather indicates an inevitable upgrade trend from older systems. However, it is difficult to ascertain the specific SKU preferred by Steam users since Valve takes surveys according to core count and clock speed rather than the SKU, unlike its GPU survey.

That said, based on the survey trends it's obvious Steam users are coming from older dual, quad, and hexa cores to CPUs containing 10 cores and more. 

With graphics cards, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 remains the top dog, though there has been some drop. None of the RTX 40 series desktop GPUs are on the top 10, yet. The closest ones to making the break are RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti cards. It is going to be a while before we see RTX 40 Super series somewhere in the top 10, given most of it consists of large numbers of RTX 10 series and RTX 30 users. Recently, there have been good deals on GeForce RTX 3050 8GB while Nvidia partners are releasing the cut-down RTX 3060 6GB variations. 

Interestingly, there has been an increase in RTX 3060-based gaming notebooks in the most recent charted month. Notebooks with RTX 4060 graphics are also shown to have more users in January.

With system memory, 16GB is the preferred RAM quota for 49.60% of Steam users, with 23.71% of users doubling up to 32GB. Regarding monitor resolution, 1080p is still the king of the hill consisting of 59.7% of users, followed by 1440p with 16%. It's safe to assume that this resolution will not change for a while as users would be keen on using higher-performing graphics cards with higher-resolution monitors. Even with newer 1440p monitors coming throughout this year, it is going to take a while since we see a visible change with GPUs and monitor resolutions. 

Solid growth with Virtual Reality

There has been an increase in VR headset users on Steam. 40.64% of Steam's VR gamers use the Oculus Quest 2 while 15% use the Valve Index. The accessibly priced Meta Quest platform had the most significant growth with a 4.78% increase during January, now having 14.05% of the VR headset user base on Steam. We're very likely to see more growth in the VR headset space. 

Preferred Operating System according to the Steam Survey

What's very noticeable over the months is that 44.24% of users have switched to Windows 11 64-bit, reaching the same ballpark as those on Windows 10 64-bit (51.43%). We will likely see a further upward trend in the following months, finally replacing the much older operating system.

Overall, 96.52% of Steam users are on the Windows platform, including those who use EOL operating systems Windows 7 and 8.1. Linux and MacOS have a much smaller user base with 1.95% and 1.54%, respectively. 

Apple finally changed its regulations to make way for GeForce Now and Xbox game streaming apps in its store. With its new $3,499 Apple Vision Pro, one couldn't help but speculate if Steam would encourage developers to make AR and VR games for this new device. Similarly, Valve is considering optimizing SteamOS for other portable gaming consoles with similar game controls. Though this may not challenge Windows's dominating position in Steam Survey, both steps would help grow its market share.