Valve Admits That Steam Hardware Survey Data Was Inaccurate
According to the latest monthly Steam survey on used hardware and software (January 2026), many gamers don't necessarily need to chase the latest components: it's quite comfortable to play on equipment that is several years old. This is especially relevant considering the high cost of top-tier components — for example, the price tag on graphics cards like the Nvidia RTX 5090 makes purchasing them far from the most realistic option for most people.
However, when analyzing Steam data, some nuances should be considered. In the notes for the latest beta update of the Steam client, a problem was fixed where the video memory (VRAM) amount on some graphics cards was reported incorrectly in the statistics. Furthermore, the data collection principle itself has changed: now, in case of multiple graphics adapters, the system selects the one with the most video memory — and its parameters are reported. The developers believe this approach provides a more adequate representation of the power of most gaming systems.
The January Steam survey revealed that 29.57% of systems report having 8 GB of video memory. However, it is not yet entirely clear how much the previous accounting error affected this value.
As for system memory (RAM), 40.24% of PCs participating in the survey are equipped with 16 GB of RAM — this is a decrease of just under 1% compared to the end of last year. Experts find it difficult to say definitively whether this is caused by some users updating their configurations or, conversely, by other gamers selling off excess memory modules. Meanwhile, recent tests show that 16 GB of RAM is still sufficient for comfortable gaming in most modern titles.