NVIDIA RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 Experience Surge in Popularity in Latest Steam Hardware Survey

The RTX 50 series from NVIDIA has garnered remarkable attention in the graphics card market, particularly with the RTX 5060, which is experiencing a significant surge in popularity. Close behind is the GeForce RTX 5070, which is also seeing noticeable growth among gamers.

Steam Hardware Survey for January 2026: A 40% Popularity Surge for the GeForce RTX 5060; RTX 5070 Sees 19% Increase

The rapid adoption of budget-friendly RTX 50-series GPUs comes as no surprise given the current gaming market climate. Prices for graphics cards have skyrocketed due to supply challenges, compelling gamers to seek more affordable options. NVIDIA and AMD have modified their supply strategies for the latest-generation GPUs, leading to an uptick in prices for certain models.

Recent data from the Steam Hardware Survey for January 2026 has revealed striking developments regarding the RTX 5060. The card’s popularity surged by nearly 40% compared to December 2025, indicating a robust market shift. Although it has not yet reached the pinnacle of GPU popularity on Steam, it’s rapidly closing the widening gap with the well-regarded RTX 40 and RTX 30 series models, including the RTX 4060 and RTX 3060.

A table lists multiple NVIDIA and AMD video cards, showing percentage usage from September to January, with NVIDIA GeForce

In December 2025, the GeForce RTX 5060 was recorded at a market share of approximately 1.78%. This figure has now surged to a notable 2.50%. While such numbers may seem minor, they effectively illustrate a significant increase in adoption rates. Parallelly, the GeForce RTX 5070 has seen a rise from 2.41% to 2.87%, marking a substantial 19% leap within just one month. This performance makes it the leading GPU of the RTX 50 series on the Steam monitoring charts.

A data table titled 'VRAM' shows that 8 GB VRAM is the most common at 29.57% with a -3.11% change.

Reports indicate NVIDIA is concentrating its supply efforts on the RTX 5060, RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, and RTX 5070 due to constraints affecting VRAM availability. Consequently, the allocation for the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB model has been reduced to ensure a consistent supply of these variants. Although many gamers prefer the 16 GB iteration of the RTX 5060 Ti, its current price is nearly double the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), making the 8 GB version more appealing. Interestingly, while 16 GB GPUs have seen a slight increase in share since December 2025, the share for 8 GB models has noticeably declined.

On the AMD front, the only model highlighted in the latest Steam survey is the Radeon RX 9070, which has captured a modest 0.16% share. The RX 9070 XT has vanished from the charts and is pricier than the non-XT variant, while the RX 9060 XT curiously remains absent. The ongoing absence of RX 9000 series GPUs from the Steam Hardware survey data raises questions that remain unanswered since their debut.

For more details, you can visit the Steam Hardware survey.

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