RTX 5070 Dominates Steam Charts as PC Gaming Trends Shift

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 has experienced a dramatic surge in popularity, becoming the most used graphics card on Steam in February 2026. This rise coincides with a significant shift in PC gaming trends, including increased adoption of 32GB of RAM and evolving user demographics.

RTX 5070 Claims Top Spot on Steam

Defying ongoing global memory shortages, the GeForce RTX 5070 has risen to prominence as a leading graphics card for PC gamers. According to the latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey, the RTX 5070 achieved a 9.42% market share in February 2026, a substantial 6.55% increase from the previous month. Tom’s Hardware reports this represents a seismic shift, considering the RTX 4060 previously held the top position.

The RTX 5070’s market share jumped from 2.87% in January to 9.42% in February, a 228% increase. Windows Report highlights this as one of the most volatile months in recent PC market history.

The Role of Chinese Gamers and Internet Cafes

The RTX 5070’s rapid ascent is closely linked to a significant increase in Steam users from China. The February 2026 survey revealed that 54.6% of users were from China, a 30.74% increase. This surge coincides with the Chinese New Year holidays, during which millions of gamers have increased playtime. Tom’s Hardware suggests that the popularity of internet gaming cafes in China may be skewing the results, as multiple users can log in to the same system.

Valve has not disclosed whether it has measures in place to prevent duplicate reporting from these systems.

Shifting Trends in RAM and Operating Systems

Alongside the GPU changes, the Steam survey indicates a growing preference for 32GB of system RAM. Systems equipped with 32GB now represent 56.93% of participants, an 18.91% jump in a single month. Windows Report notes this is occurring despite ongoing concerns about rising DDR5 prices, currently ranging from $350 to $500 depending on speed and brand.

Interestingly, the survey also shows a decline in Windows 11 usage among Steam gamers, with a 10.43% decrease in February 2026. Conversely, Windows 10 saw a 12.46% increase, suggesting some gamers are reverting to the older operating system. Tom’s Hardware reports this discontent despite recent reports indicating Windows 11 has nearly reached 75% market share overall.

Other RTX 50-Series Gains

The GeForce RTX 5060, NVIDIA’s entry-level Blackwell GPU with 8GB of VRAM, now sits in second place with a 6.72% share, recording a 168% monthly increase. Windows Report also notes the RTX 5080 climbed from 1.25% to 1.66%.

Wccftech reports that the RTX 4060 has been pushed down to third place.