16GB Is Back: What Steam's October Survey Says About the RAM Crisis

Every month, Valve asks a random sample of Steam users whether it can look at their PC's specifications. The resulting Steam Hardware & Software Survey is the closest thing PC gaming has to a census. In a year when memory prices have multiplied and graphics cards have barely moved, the October 2026 edition is unusually revealing.

In the survey published at the start of November 2026, 16GB of system RAM retook first place among Steam users with 41.42%, up 3.60 points, pushing 32GB back to second at 37.06%, down 5.16 points. At the top of the graphics card chart, Nvidia's RTX 3060, a card launched in early 2021, drew level with or moved just ahead of the newer RTX 5070, depending on which of Valve's tables you read. Windows 11 reached 72.51% of users, and Linux rose to 3.95%.

A survey with a big caveat

Before reading too much into any one month, it helps to understand how the survey works. It is opt-in and random: Valve invites a sample of users, and whether you are asked depends partly on luck. That means the mix of countries and languages in the sample can swing from month to month, and that can move the results more than real buying trends.

October is a good example. The share of users with Simplified Chinese as their main language fell 9.41 points to 21.98%, while English rose 4.84 points to 39.04%. Chinese internet cafés and gamers often use different hardware from players in Europe and North America, so a change in that share alone can shuffle the charts.

The memory story

Even with that caveat, the RAM numbers fit the bigger picture. A 32GB DDR5 kit that cost under $100 for most of 2025 now costs over $500, and many new budget PCs ship with a single 16GB stick. Players who might have upgraded in 2026 have good reason to wait.

That shows up elsewhere too. 1920x1080 monitors made up 50.23% of primary displays, up 2.32 points, and 8GB graphics cards remain common at the top of the video memory chart. The typical Steam PC in late 2026 is more modest than the hardware in most game trailers.

Windows 11 and Linux

The operating system numbers tell a separate story. Windows 11 rose 1.17 points to 72.51%, while Windows 10 fell to 21.11%. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 10 in October 2025, and the shift has been steady since.

Linux rose 0.90 points to 3.95%, close to the 4% mark. Much of that comes from Valve's own SteamOS devices, such as the Steam Deck, but the most popular single Linux distribution in October was CachyOS, at 0.65% of all users, a sign that more desktop players are trying Linux too.

Why it matters

Developers use this survey to decide what hardware to target. When 16GB of RAM and 1080p monitors are the most common setup, a game that needs 32GB and a high-end card will shut out a big share of potential players.

WGC's take: the October numbers are noisy, but the direction is clear. PC gamers are holding on to their hardware for longer, and studios planning 2027 releases should build for the PCs people actually own, not the ones they would like to buy. For the reasons behind the price rises, see our long read on the RAM crisis.