- A new Steam Hardware Survey has revealed that PC gamers now prefer 16 GB GPUs over 8 GB GPUs.
- Using 16 GB GPUs allows players to future-proof their setups, albeit with the extra RAM prices.
- Eight-core processors are also beating out six-core chips for Steam users.
A new Steam survey has revealed that PC gamers are moving on from 8 GB GPUs. For the first time ever, 16 GB graphics cards have taken the crown as the most popular VRAM choice on Steam, knocking 8 GB GPUs down to second place.
In the latest numbers provided by the Steam Hardware Survey of July 2026, 16 GB GPUs grabbed 25.9% of the market share. This barely beats out 8 GB GPUs, which sit at around 25.3%. While this is a tight gap, it is a huge milestone for PC gamers. For years, 8 GB has been the sweet spot for budget and mid-range PC builds, with popular cards like the Nvidia RTX 4060Ti.
However, modern AAA games like Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced can be absolute memory hogs. With their massive open worlds, high-res textures, and ray tracing, 8 GB GPUs have been having a tough time keeping up.
It looks like gamers who were tired of playing games on the lowest settings are cashing in for 16 GB setups like the newer RTX 50-series. However, players might have a hard time future-proofing their setups right now, thanks to the ongoing RAM price hike all across the world.
In addition to the 8 GB GPUs being left behind as per the Steam survey, eight-core processors have also beaten out six-core chips among Steam users. Eight-core chips now make up 27.85% of the user base, while six-core processors dropped just behind to 27.52%.
All in all, this is great news for PC players, as developers have had to stress out trying to make their games run smoothly on systems with 8 GB GPUs. While older GPUs are not vanishing overnight, it is clear that the PC community is ready to level up for the future and has no fear of frying their system while benchmarking their graphics card.
