Next-generation graphics cards are expected to be introduced later this year or in early 2025. There are rumors that a 12GB version of Intel’s next-generation Battlemage-based graphics card is already being tested on the latest benchmarks. We looked at the most recent Steam hardware survey to see which graphics cards are the most popular and whether the PC gaming community is ready for an upgrade.
What do we think? Six of the top seven graphics add-in boards from the survey are four to eight years old, with Nvidia’s Ampere line, which debuted in 2020, still the most popular AIB on Steam. Graphics cards in the midrange and entry-level segments account for more than 80% of all graphics cards on Steam. The next generation of graphics cards presents an excellent opportunity for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia to persuade gamers to upgrade their systems, provided they deliver a midrange card that performs well and is competitively priced.
Nvidia by the numbers on Steam
According to Steam’s most recent hardware poll from July, Nvidia continues to hold a dominant position in the gaming community. Nvidia holds 27 of the top 30 graphics add-in boards (AIBs) on Steam, with the GeForce RTX 3060 leading the way with 6.21% of the total share and 8.83% when the data is adjusted to only include graphics cards.
| AIB | % of share overall, all graphics | % of share, AIBs | Generation | Release |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 | 6.21% | 8.83% | Ampere | 2021 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 | 4.22% | 6.00% | Turing | 2019 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | 3.78% | 5.38% | Ampere | 2020 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 | 3.71% | 5.28% | Ampere | 2020 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 | 3.66% | 5.21% | Ada Lovelace | 2023 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 | 3.63% | 5.16% | Turing | 2019 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 | 3.28% | 4.67% | Pascal | 2016 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti | 2.99% | 4.25% | Ada Lovelace | 2023 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | 2.92% | 4.15% | Ada Lovelace | 2023 |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 | 2.84% | 4.04% | Ampere | 2022 |
The top 10 most popular boards on the Steam hardware survey are from Nvidia.
Six of the top 10 most popular Nvidia cards on Steam are 3 years old or older, some dating back to the Pascal architecture.
Of the Nvidia boards surveyed on Steam, 47% are at least two generations old, with only 20% of Nvidia gamers taking advantage of the current Ada Lovelace architecture. With the release of the 5000 series later this year or in early 2025, Nvidia has an excellent opportunity to entice 50% of its market to upgrade to next-generation technology to take advantage of ray tracing, DLSS, and driving higher frame rates on modern games.
AMD has some catching up to do
Nvidia dominates the Steam hardware survey, while AMD’s first graphics cards debut at the 25th and 26th positions in the rankings. AMD’s Radeon graphics cards match up well in benchmarking, providing competitive frame rates and pricing, though they have lagged behind in some features such as ray-tracing performance.
| AIB | % of share overall, all graphics | % of share, AIBs | Generation | Release |
| AMD Radeon RX 580 | 0.82% | 1.17% | GCN 4.0 | 2017 |
| AMD Radeon RX 6600 | 0.77% | 1.10% | RDNA 2.0 | 2021 |
| AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT | 0.70% | 1.00% | RDNA 2.0 | 2021 |
| AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | 0.66% | 0.94% | RDNA 1.0 | 2019 |
| AMD Radeon RX 570 | 0.57% | 0.81% | GCN 4.0 | 2017 |
| AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP | 0.54% | 0.77% | GCN 4.0 | 2017 |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 0.41% | 0.58% | RDNA 3.0 | 2022 |
| AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT | 0.41% | 0.58% | RDNA 2.0 | 2021 |
| AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT | 0.34% | 0.48% | RDNA 2.0 | 2022 |
| AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT | 0.32% | 0.46% | RDNA 2.0 | 2022 |
AMD’s top 10 graphics cards on Steam.
The GCN 4.0-based Radeon RX 580 remains the most popular AMD graphics card on Steam, with the AMD flagship RX 7900 XTX placing seventh.
Of all AMD graphics cards surveyed, 45% are two generations or older, and just 7% of AMD games use the newer RDNA 3.0 architecture.
AMD had a strong Q2, with revenue of $5.8 billion, up 9% from last year, which was driven by record data center revenue. However, the gaming segment decreased 66% year over year and 49% sequentially to $648 million. AMD is the major player in the console market, which has seen declining sales over the past year, as current consoles have been on the market for going on four years now.
AMD has always had good hardware, and its current AIBs perform well head-to-head with its main competition, especially when you factor in price. Nevertheless, they have yet to break through Nvidia’s green wall. The next generation of RDNA 4 technology, rumored to be releasing in the next few months, will provide AMD with another opportunity to wrestle away some vital market share in the gaming AIB space.