Which RAMpocalypse? Valve’s monthly hardware and software survey provides key insights into the PC configurations of gamers worldwide. Recent surveys have shown AMD gaining ground on Intel in the CPU space, while Nvidia maintains its lead over AMD as the preferred GPU maker. The latest report now shows that 32GB of system memory has become the most common configuration for gamers despite the AI-related price increase.
According to the September 2026 Steam survey, 32GB is now the most common system memory configuration for gaming rigs among Steam users. The data shows that 32GB systems accounted for 42.22% of all rigs examined in September, an increase of 4.77 points from August, when 16GB was still the most common configuration.
While this trend applies equally to Windows, Mac, and Linux devices, it is most pronounced on Windows PCs. The survey shows that 32GB systems accounted for about 43% of all Windows gaming systems in September, up 4.81 points from August.
The second most common configuration was 16GB, which accounted for 37.6% of all Windows systems, down 3.47 points from August.
Across all three platforms, 8GB was the third most common option, accounting for just over 6% of all gaming devices. Interestingly, about 1% of gamers still keep their old 4GB systems.
At the other end of the spectrum, almost 4% of the participating devices were equipped with 64 GB of RAM, and around 0.5% were apparently equipped with even more.
On the software side, Windows 11 continues to gain market share as the world’s most popular PC gaming platform. The survey shows that 71% of participating devices were running Windows 11 in September, a small increase from August. Only 23.6% of people still stick with Windows 10 despite Microsoft ending support for the operating system last year.
Also check out: Anatomy of RAM
Overall, Windows accounted for 95% of all operating systems among Steam players, while Linux came in second with 3%. Due to the fragmentation of the Linux ecosystem, none of the distributions came close to reaching double-digit usage rates.
Despite Apple’s recent attempts to make the Mac a viable gaming platform, macOS only accounted for 1.92% of all gaming devices on Steam.
