Windows 10 now accounts for more than half of PCs in the Steam Hardware Survey

The latest Steam Hardware and Software Survey marks a significant milestone for Windows 10, which is now the operating system of choice for more than half of its reported users. The 32 and 64-bit versions of the OS account for 50.35 percent of systems in the survey, while the aged Windows 7 claims second place with a still-respectable 33.87 percent share.

VentureBeat reported last September that the Windows 10 adoption rate is well ahead of earlier versions of Windows, including Windows 7. Making Win10 a free upgrade certainly helped convince people to give it a try, and the figure is bolstered by the inclusion of Windows 10 Mobile devices, Xbox One consoles, and other hardware in the total. The adoption rate has slowed somewhat in recent months—the free upgrade offer ended in July—and the early prediction of one billion installs by 2018 now seems laughably over-optimistic, but it's clearly still making strong headway.

The full Windows OS breakdown:

Windows 10 64 bit: 49.10 percent (+0.20%)
Windows 7 64 bit: 28.60 percent (-0.22%)
Windows 8.1 64 bit: 8.49 percent (-0.10%)
Windows 7: 5.27 percent (-0.13%)
Windows 10: 1.25 percent (+0.02%)
Windows XP 32 bit: 1.15 percent (-0.04%)
Windows 8 64 bit: 1.15 percent (-0.04%)
Windows 8.1: 0.27 percent (0.00%)
Windows Vista 32 bit: 0.13 percent (-0.01%)
Windows 8: 0.10 percent (0.00%)
Windows Vista 64 bit: 0.06 percent (-0.01%)

Other interesting tidbits revealed by the survey: The GTX 970 is still the dominant video card at 4.64 percent of users, but it continues to lose share—it's down by more than a quarter point—while the GTX 1060 is coming on strong, up nearly a half-point to 1.90 percent. VR headsets account for a minuscule portion of Steam users, just 0.38 percent in total (0.25 percent HTC Vive, 0.15 percent Oculus Rift). And 1.64 percent of Steam users are still running at 1024x768. (Come on, guys, it's 2017. You can do better than that.)

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.