For regular users, Windows 10 has only eight months of support ahead, as Microsoft plans to end the Extended Security Update program later this year, in October. Despite the upcoming end of life, there are still a lot of users using the decade-old operating system. Even though Windows 11 now has one billion users and is the most popular operating system on Steam, Windows 10 is still doing alright.
Valve"s latest Hardware & Software Survey results indicate that, as of February 2026, 27.79% of all survey participants reported accessing the gaming platform from Windows 10 PCs. The value increased by 0.28 points over the previous month, keeping Windows 10 the second most popular OS on Steam.
Windows 11, unsurprisingly, is the most popular choice among gamers, mostly because the OS has the best support when it comes to hardware and software features on modern PCs. Valve says that 66.71% of Steam users run Windows 11 (+0.11 points in one month). Windows 7 is third with a tiny 0.08% market share. Overall, Windows holds a 94.62% market share on Steam, and in January 2026, it increased by 0.39 points.
Linux and macOS share what"s left after Windows, with Linux having 3.38% (-0.2 points) and macOS having 2.01% (-0.17 points). The most popular flavor of Linux on Steam is Arch Linux (0.31%), while macOS 26 Tahoe leads the pack among Apple users playing games on Steam on their Apple Silicon Macs.
The most popular hardware picks include the desktop NVIDIA RTX 4060 graphics card (4.16%), 16GB of RAM (40.24%), a six-core processor (28.45%), 8GB of video memory (29.57%), and a 1080p display. NVIDIA remains the most popular GPU manufacturer with an overwhelming 73.24% market share (AMD is second with 18.44%), while on the CPU side, AMD is much closer to its main rival with a 44.36% share against Intel"s 55.64%.
You can find more details from the latest survey on the official website.