AMD has achieved remarkable success among PC gamers. According to the latest Steam Hardware Survey, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is now the most common dedicated AMD graphics card on the platform. The latest RDNA 4 card has displaced the significantly older Radeon RX 6600 from the top spot. However, the gap with Nvidia remains wide.
The figures come from Valve’s Steam Hardware & Software Survey for August 2026, which shows the RX 9070 XT powering 1.46 percent of scanned systems—more than any other individual Radeon card.
RX 9070 XT Overtakes the Long-Time Leader, the RX 6600
Until now, the Radeon RX 6600 was one of AMD’s most successful cards in Steam’s statistics. The affordable RDNA 2 model had long held the top spot among dedicated Radeon cards. Now, that picture has changed.
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The RX 9070 XT now claims 1.46 percent of systems, while the RX 6600 holds about 0.83 percent.
The Radeon RX 9060 XT follows in third place with about 0.80 percent, putting two RX 9000 series cards in the top ranks of AMD’s installed base.
The rise was surprisingly fast
What’s particularly noteworthy is how quickly the RX 9070 XT has climbed in the Steam statistics. The card was first clearly identified as a separate model in the hardware survey in May 2026. At that time, its share was already around 1.33 percent.
In the months that followed, the figure rose steadily to 1.46 percent in August. That may seem like a small increase, but on a platform as large as Steam, such shifts are significant. Most importantly, the trend shows that AMD’s RDNA 4 is resonating much better with gamers than many RDNA 3 models.
RDNA 3 had a much harder time on Steam
This is precisely where the real point of interest lies. AMD’s Radeon RX 7000 series never achieved a similarly dominant position in the Steam Hardware Survey. The RX 7800 XT, for example, currently lags significantly behind the new generation.
Even higher-priced models like the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX play only a comparatively minor role in the Steam statistics. The RX 9070 XT, on the other hand, has surpassed all older dedicated Radeon models in a relatively short time. For AMD, this is at least a sign that the current product generation is being much better received by PC gamers.
Nvidia Still Clearly in the Lead
However, there is no sign of a fundamental shift in power in the graphics card market. Nvidia continues to dominate the Steam Hardware Survey by a wide margin. The most widely represented cards include the GeForce RTX 3060, RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, and RTX 5070.
The RTX 3060 currently accounts for about 3.9 percent, and several other Nvidia cards also rank well ahead of the RX 9070 XT. Even within the current generation, Nvidia maintains a clear lead. Still, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is shaping up to be one of AMD’s most successful models on Steam in recent years.
Why the RX 9070 XT appears to be more popular
One reason may lie in the positioning of the current Radeon generation. With RDNA 4, AMD focused more on the upper mid-range and high-end segments without seeking to compete directly against extremely expensive Nvidia flagships.
Ray-tracing performance and AI-based upscaling also improved over earlier generations. FSR 4, AMD’s latest upscaling tool, now leans more on machine learning. These advances help narrow the technical gap with Nvidia.
Gamers who want strong raster performance without paying top dollar for a GeForce card may find the RX 9070 XT especially appealing.
However, the Steam figures carry an important caveat
Valve runs the survey among Steam users who choose to participate.
The results reflect the hardware used by that sample and do not reveal how many RX 9070 XT cards AMD has sold or the model’s global market share. Steam has sometimes misidentified graphics cards or listed them under generic names.
AMD’s “AMD Radeon Graphics” category, for instance, has often caused confusion. Still, the trend within these numbers is worth watching.
This is a good sign for AMD
After several generations during which older, budget Radeon cards dominated Steam, a current, high-performance model is back on top for the first time. Within months, the RX 9070 XT has overtaken the RX 6600 and opened a significant gap over many Radeon RX 7000 parts.
Nvidia still dominates overall, but AMD’s August 2026 numbers indicate that the current Radeon generation is resonating with PC gamers more than several earlier lines. Source: Techp
