PC gamers upgraded to Windows 11 at half the rate of Windows 10, Steam hardware survey shows

March’s Steam Hardware Survey shows the adoption rate for Windows 11 among Steam users so far.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Windows 11 users on Steam are up 1.25% from February, and now account for 16.84% of all users. Windows 10 is still the dominant OS for Steam users with a commanding 74.69%, though it dropped a percentage point since February.For some historical context, 36.97% of Steam users were using  Windows 10 seven months after its launch back in 2016. That’s more than half the adoption rate from folks going from Windows 7 to Windows 10 then Windows 10 to Windows 11.

In case you’re wondering how many Linux and MacOS users are hanging around: as of March, total MacOS users sit around 2.43% and Linux remains at a steady 1%.

On the graphics card front, Nvidia GPUs make up 77.13% of what Steam users are playing on, with AMD in second place with 14.15% and Intel in third at 8.52%.  The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 is the most commonly used GPU among Steam users at 8.18%, while our favorite GPU,the RTX 3080,is only being used by 1.24% of folks on Steam.

Our recommendation was to wait to upgrade toWindows 11when we reviewed it last year, and that’s still our advice for now—though we’ll probably change our tune once we see the Windows 11 version ofDirectStoragein action.

Steam Deck review:Our verdictSteam Deck availability:How to get oneSteam Deck battery life:The real battery lifeHow loud is the Steam Deck?Say what?The emulation dream machine:The ultimate emulatorThe best budget gaming PC: Price point hero

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Jorge is a hardware writer from the enchanted lands of New Jersey. When he’s not filling the office with the smell of Pop-Tarts, he’s reviewing all sorts of gaming hardware, from laptops with the latest mobile GPUs to gaming chairs with built-in back massagers. He’s been covering games and tech for over ten years and has written for Dualshockers, WCCFtech, Tom’s Guide, and a bunch of other places on the world wide web.

It looks like ‘Windows Intelligence’ might subsume ‘Copilot’ branding, giving yet more evidence that we can’t decide how to market AI

CrowdStrike is having problems with Windows again but thankfully just with 24H2 and just in some Office programs

GTA 6’s corporate overlord reveals that he’s looking forward to ‘a more sensible FTC’ under the Trump administration because sometimes ‘deregulation can be a positive’