Steam Data Shows Gamers Adopting GeForce RTX 30 GPUs Faster Than Last Gen
Nope, the depressing graphics card shortage is not yet over, and that could be the case throughout 2022 as well. Be that as it may, gamers are actually getting their hands on NVIDIA's latest generation GPUs, as evidenced by latest Steam Hardware and Software survey data. Looking at the numbers, it even appears that PC gamers are jumping into the latest gen GPU hardware at a faster clip than they did with Turing.
There are some caveats that come with this analysis. For one, Steam's survey data is not the end-all-be-all of hardware adoption, and can fluctuate depending on which systems are being pinged (it doesn't take into account every Steam user). And there are other factors that can mess with the results, like game launches, an uptick in internet cafes in China, and so forth.
That said, it is the best snapshot we have of the state of PC gaming, when it comes to this kind of data. And here's what the latest numbers indicate on the desktop (we're not including mobile GPUs in laptops)...
- GeForce RTX 3090: 0.44 percent
- GeForce RTX 3080 Ti: 0.31 percent
- GeForce RTX 3080: 1.04 percent
- GeForce RTX 3070 Ti: 0.31 percent
- GeForce RTX 3070: 1.7 percent
- GeForce RTX 3060 Ti: 0.81 percent
- GeForce RTX 3060: 1.13 percent
That all adds up to 5.74 percent, as of the end of October 2021, with the GeForce RTX 3070 being the most popular of the bunch. While not all of the SKUs came out at the same time, the GeForce RTX 30 series (Ampere) generally released to retail on September 17, 2020. Likewise, the GeForce RTX 20 series (Turing) released September 20, 2018. So, if we hop in the Wayback Machine and set the dial for October 2019, we can compare the adoption rate in the same general time frame.
Here's how it works out...
- GeForce RTX 2080 Ti: 0.56 percent
- GeForce RTX 2080: 0.92 percent
- GeForce RTX 2070 Super: 0.26 percent
- GeForce RTX 2070: 1.47 percent
- GeForce RTX 2060 Super: 0.16 percent
- GeForce RTX 2060: 1.6 percent
In the same general time frame, Turing leaped to a 4.97 percent adoption rate in Steam's survey. At the risk of over analyzing the data, Ampere's adoption rate since release is 0.77 percent higher than Turing's was.
We're hesitant to take the data completely at face value for reasons already mentioned, but even so, it is mildly surprising. How so? It's extremely difficult to buy a GPU these days, and they are fetching monumental markups on eBay and Craigslist. Even first-party retailers have jacked up prices, as well as include what little inventories they have into expensive bundles.
The simple fact is, these cards are selling out as quickly as NVIDIA and its retail partners can stock them. If there is an artificial shortage, as some among the tinfoil hat camp have claimed, it's either not showing up in the sales and adoption rate figures, or is a practice that was present when the last generation cards came out too.
