Steam Hardware Survey Reveals Rising Dependence on Low End Hardware
One of the side effects of Steam becoming the dominant online distribution platform for PC games is that it gives us a glimpse of what types of hardware computer users are wielding these days. Steam just released its latest collection of hardware stats, and there are some interesting trends taking place.
For one, reliance on integrated graphics is on the rise. That isn't terribly surprising considering that both Intel and AMD now feature GPU cores embedded in their latest processors, but the jump is significant. Around 11 percent of surveyed PCs play games using integrated graphics, compared to previous averages that typically fell in the 3 to 4 percent range.
The survey also notes an increase in the number of gamers using dual-core CPUs. Nearly half -- 49.84 percent -- of all Steam gamers use a dual-core processor, which is up 0.25 percent from May to June, and up from 44.84 percent in February of this year. Both single-core (as expected) and quad-core (somewhat surprising) usage is on the decline, according to Steam's hardware survey.
Another interesting stat is screen resolution. The most popular display resolution is 1920x1080 with a little over a quarter of all gamers sporting Full HD panels, followed by 18.31 percent gaming at 1366x768, which is a popular notebook resolution. Less than half a percent of Steam's gamer population frag at 2560x1600 and 2560x1440 combined, which are popular display resolutions for 30-inch and 27-inch monitors, respectively.
For one, reliance on integrated graphics is on the rise. That isn't terribly surprising considering that both Intel and AMD now feature GPU cores embedded in their latest processors, but the jump is significant. Around 11 percent of surveyed PCs play games using integrated graphics, compared to previous averages that typically fell in the 3 to 4 percent range.
Image Source: Valve
The survey also notes an increase in the number of gamers using dual-core CPUs. Nearly half -- 49.84 percent -- of all Steam gamers use a dual-core processor, which is up 0.25 percent from May to June, and up from 44.84 percent in February of this year. Both single-core (as expected) and quad-core (somewhat surprising) usage is on the decline, according to Steam's hardware survey.
Another interesting stat is screen resolution. The most popular display resolution is 1920x1080 with a little over a quarter of all gamers sporting Full HD panels, followed by 18.31 percent gaming at 1366x768, which is a popular notebook resolution. Less than half a percent of Steam's gamer population frag at 2560x1600 and 2560x1440 combined, which are popular display resolutions for 30-inch and 27-inch monitors, respectively.
