AMD smashes through 30% CPU usage barrier in Steam hardware survey leaving Intel's ambitions resting on Alder Lake

Last month, we reported that Intel had managed to take a tasty bite out of AMD’s processor usage share in the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for August. The figures rested at 27.4% for Team Red and 72.6% for Team Blue, with no sign of any massive swings on the horizon (as there were no big processor releases incoming). But AMD now has a reported 30.33% share, with the Ryzen designer finally managing to break down the 30%-figure obstacle and aim for a previously unthinkable 35% or even 40% share mark.

While the percentages in the September Steam survey are affected by many variables, such as people stuck at home dusting off old computers for a gaming session, it seems ingenuous to ignore the fact that AMD recently cut the prices of its Ryzen 5000 processors. Most of these Zen 3 SKUs are attractive enough to builders even without a price cut, so slashing prices seems to have been a good strategy for AMD. The ever-popular Ryzen 5 5600X went from €299 to €265 and is US$289.99 on Amazon, while the powerhouse Ryzen 9 5950X was cut from €799 to €699 in Europe and costs US$749 on Amazon US.

Whether or not Intel actually cares about the processor usage share reports on Steam doesn’t mean that AMD encroaching on possessing a whole third portion of the market wouldn’t be troublesome for Team Blue. Alder Lake has shown some impressive performance feats of late but pricing could be an issue for DIY enthusiasts looking to upgrade their PC. If Intel prices too high, then Alder Lake might fall flat despite having good synthetic benchmark results, and availability of parts will also play a crucial factor here. The Steam survey does at least offer an interesting snapshot of the state of the processor market as a whole…and it’s looking more than rosy for AMD right now.

Buy the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or Ryzen 9 5950X on Amazon