Valve updates Steam to fix incorrect GPU data in its monthly Hardware Survey results

Valve's monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey results are something that we regularly report on, as it's great for getting a general sense of what hardware is out there. From CPUs to GPUs, memory, storage, and display resolution, it's also an invaluable tool for game developers to get a sense of what hardware they should build their games for, or at least support.

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On the GPU side, Valve has quietly issued a Steam Client update (via the Steam Deck Beta channel) that will improve how it captures and records GPU data. According to the update, "VRAM on some graphics cards" was not being reported correctly, so this has been fixed. How this will affect the results remains to be seen, but it's the next update that will be the most telling.

It's no secret that NVIDIA's GeForce RTX offerings dominate the discrete GPU market, which has been reflected in the Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for years. However, some critics claim that AMD's Radeon cards are underrepresented because integrated GPUs in processors are being recorded instead.

So this is why generic GPU labels like 'AMD Radeon Graphics' continue to show up in the results with notable market share. "In the case of multiple display adapters, we now select the one with the most VRAM to display and report to Steam," Valve confirms in its update to the Steam Client. This would alleviate this issue and help us get a clearer picture of what discrete GPUs are out in the wild, including Radeon RX and GeForce RTX.

As this update is currently only available in a 'Steam Deck Beta Client Update', it might take a few weeks before it's rolled out to all desktop Steam users. And with that, we probably won't see the effects of the changes for a couple of months.