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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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PC gamers love Windows 7

By | January 25, 2010, 7:09am PST

It seems that PC gamers, specifically those who use Steam, love Windows 7.

In a recent survey carried out by Steam, Windows 7 showed itself to be very popular amongst gamers, installed on a whopping 23% of the Steam gamer’s PCs. Interestingly, 64-bit Windows 7 holds a commanding lead over it’s 32-bit brother, with 15.61% and 7.45% shares respectively.

Here’s the OS breakdown:

  • Windows XP 32 bit - 44.77%
  • Windows Vista 32 bit - 20.71%
  • Windows 7 64 bit - 15.61%
  • Windows Vista 64 bit - 10.00%
  • Windows 7 - 7.45%
  • Windows XP 64 bit - 0.64%
  • Windows 2003 64 bit - 0.64%
  • Windows 2000 - 0.10%
  • Other - 0.08%

Windows XP and Vista still have a lead over Windows 7, but I think that Vista will be surpassed by 7 pretty soon.

Let’s take a look at a few other interesting statistics on offer:

CPU:

  • GenuineIntel - 69.06%
  • AuthenticAMD - 30.94%

System RAM:

  • Less than 512 MB - 0.65%
  • 512 MB to 999 MB - 4.07%
  • 1 GB - 11.72%
  • 2 GB - 30.94%
  • 3 GB - 29.99%
  • 4 GB - 15.04%
  • 5 GB and higher - 7.59%

CPUs/Cores:

  • 1 cpu - 18.08%
  • 2 cpus - 56.93%
  • 3 cpus - 0.95%
  • 4 cpus - 23.99%
  • 6 cpus - 0.00%
  • 8 cpus - 0.05%

GPU manufacturer:

  • ATI - 29.82%
  • Intel - 3.61%
  • NVIDIA - 65.01%
  • Other - 1.58%

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Topics

PC, Microsoft Windows Vista, CPU, Gamer, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, 64-Bit, Operating Systems, Processors, Software, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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You do realize you are misspelling Windows, right?
Lovs2look 1st Feb 2010
Oh, you are a first grader who still hasn't learnt how to spell...sorry, my bad.
View in thread
0 Votes
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Interesting Stats...
ravinsp 25th Jan 2010
I also use win7 64 at home. I've also installed it
at my work iMac (Bootcamp) to play Age of Empires
II!
0 Votes
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Finally, a niche market to keep it alive
Ron Bergundy 25th Jan 2010
At least Windoze 7 has finally found a niche that will let M$ sell a few copies of Windoze 7.

The fact that linux is THE fastest growing OS is clear indication that nobody cares about Windoze 7, that most of the people shopping for systems are choosing Linux instead. The only people buying Windoze computers are those that want to play some games, nothing serious.

More proof that businesses are switching in droves to Linux, with kids being the only Windoze users left.
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Way to cook it up.....
OhTheHumanity 25th Jan 2010
In your head my man. Yeah drinking a little bit too much of grandma's medicine? Its growing but very small and will not be taking over Windows or Apple anytime soon. At this pace it would take a very long time so keep praying and being disappointed.
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You're kidding, right?
MalachiV 25th Jan 2010
So basically you are ignoring the fact that the gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. And you are ignoring the fact that it is not just "kids" that play games anymore, but adults, young adults and professionals as well.

As a gamer I am insulted by the way you just marginalized the gaming industry and gamers in general.
0 Votes
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? la Dr. Evil...
starblade876 25th Jan 2010
Why make billions when you can make nothing-or-a-completely-negligible-amount-in-comparison...? Mwahahahahahaha! Mwahahahahahaha! Mwahahahahahaha!
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Desktop Linux = 1% Share
Tom12Tom 25th Jan 2010
According to Net Applications, Desktop Linux's usage shate has "skyrocketed" all the way 1.02%.

Yup, 2010 is The Year of Linux. -LOL
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It's really interesting...
Dave32265 25th Jan 2010
to see all these market share numbers. Windows has this, Linux has that and OSX has something else. Who cares? People use what works for them. I use Linux and BSD almost exclusively (save for my Mac Air) and I do what I want and need. My clients use a combo of windows and Linux or all Linux or all windows because it works for them.

1.02%? the number is subjective, but lets say it's accurate for arguments sake. Cool. Maybe Linux All The Way could have been more realistic, but he was right about one thing, It is growing (albeit tiny growth) which means only one thing. More people are using it. I never bought into this "year of Linux" thing and quite frankly it really doesn't matter. My year of the Linux desktop came about 6 years ago and never looked back so 1% or 50% don't matter, It does the job for me.
0 Votes
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Unfortunately though...
SystemVoid 25th Jan 2010
People like Linux Geek and Linux All The Way do
nothing other than give Linux (and Linux users)
a bad name. It's people like him that make
people like me want to stay far away from Linux
forever.

Few can accurately deny that Linux is, in fact,
a good operating system, that is growing at a
descent and steady rate. It has its uses in the
OS/Server market, that's for sure. But, all
this crap about Linux taking over the desktop,
"nobody cares about Windoze" and "87.2% of PC
buyers are replacing their Windows OS with
Linux"... please.

I have yet to see an Apple Fanboy making stupid
claims like this, despite the fact that so many
of them dislike Windows for one reason or
another.

Speak the facts, and people are going to
respect you for it, they'll even listen. Making
up crap like this only discredits the OS you so
much want to take over the world.
0 Votes
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Agreed
daengbo 26th Jan 2010
Linux All the Way needs to turn down the rhetoric,
and I can understand why his comments turn you off
of Linux. Ye does the same for me over Windows.
There are abusive Macheads, too: you just have to
be aware. More often, though, it's the Mac guys
just stating stuff as fact when it's not correct
(generally about system architecture).

Speaking of this, where's Mike Cox?
0 Votes
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I hold no ill will toward Linux but....
nothingness 25th Jan 2010
I finally realized what that familiar feeling I got when I was using Linux; it's the same feeling I get whenever I have to step into Wal Mart, that super discounted atmosphere....yeah, it works but it just isn't quite right...
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Droves?
Cylon Centurion 25th Jan 2010
Do you have proof?


Last I saw many businesses were in the process of
testing and deploying 7. Browse around ZDNet here
and you'll see.
0 Votes
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Finally
scruff40 25th Jan 2010
Excuse me but did you mention Linus and the great pumkin too , I may have missed that.
0 Votes
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Is this like the Linux version of Mike Cox?
bmonsterman 25th Jan 2010
nt
0 Votes
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Nah.. Not hardly...
Wolfie2K3 Updated - 26th Jan 2010
Classic Mike Cox rants usually involve the deployment of some pre-Alpha Windows OS code in his production environment, slave driving his MCSEs (making them work all weekend or all night long), a visit from his rep and of course, some fine dining at some uber expensive restaurant and the occasional Cuban cigar for dessert.

He generally ropes a few newbies who are flabbergasted to read such outrageous behavior. The rest of us generally chuckle and rate him based on how many suckers he ropes in.

'Linux Geek' and 'Linux All The Way' are just a couple of clueless twits with severe delusions of Linux grandeur. They do not sound like they're gainfully employed by anyone - nor are they likely to ever find a job.

They might be able to get jobs with Apple's ad agency should any Linux distro ever get enough money together to put an ad campaign together. They'd be a good fit given the quantity of FUD they spew on here daily. Given the nature of Linux, however, I just don't see that ever happening. It's kinda hard to raise enough money to put an ad campaign together and put it on TV when your main product brings in zero revenue.
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Let me guess....
Hallowed are the Ori 25th Jan 2010
... last September you picked the St. Louis Rams to win the Superbowl this year, didn't you?
0 Votes
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You do realize you are misspelling Windows, right?
Lovs2look 1st Feb 2010
Oh, you are a first grader who still hasn't learnt how to spell...sorry, my bad.
0 Votes
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RE: PC gamers love Windows 7
g_keramidas@... 25th Jan 2010
when you garner a whopping 6.5% of the market, as linux does, it's easy to grow at a faster rate. i read that last month they grew 1% all the way up to 1.02% for the month. i don't call that droves.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/01/windows-7-growing-faster-than-vista-overtakes-mac-os.ars
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RE: PC gamers love Windows 7
Feldwebel Wolfenstool 25th Jan 2010
Hmmm....Win has done everything for me, since '01, quite handily, basically issue-free My GPS software was only available for XP, gaming's an entertainment bonus, gamers single-handedly have forced the makers to keep improving machines. But, why should I jump ship to someone else when Bill has been so good to me? You got a lotta "splainin' to do, Lucy.
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Perhaps 64-bit is more common because
bmgoodman 25th Jan 2010
Perhaps 64-bit Win 7 is preferred by gamers because they're loading their machines with 4+ GB of RAM, which the 32-bit versions cannot fully recognize. Just a thought.
0 Votes
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That and
Cylon Centurion 25th Jan 2010
It's all you buy anymore, you're hard pressed to
find 32 bit factory installations.
0 Votes
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RE: PC gamers love Windows 7
Gis Bun 25th Jan 2010
Surprised XP 64-bit and Server 64-bit are even listed. They are very rare for home usage.

Not surprised Win 7 64-bit is higher than Win 7 32-bit. Look at what's in the stores. the majority of systems are 64-bit because many of them have 4+ GB of RAM.
0 Votes
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64-bit the consumer preinstalled standard
Tom12Tom 25th Jan 2010
On the custom desktop computer model that I ordered from HP.com back in December 2008, Vista-32 wan't even an available option. Only Vista x64 was available.

On medium-to-high end consumer computers, x64 has been the preinstalled standard for quite a while.
0 Votes
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I'm still waiting for 8 bit Win 7 for my 8088 system!
kd5auq Updated - 25th Jan 2010
wink

I hope I can get it on 8" floppies!

sad
0 Votes
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Looks about right.
CobraA1 25th Jan 2010
Looks about right.

Always good to have the latest version of Windows for the latest version of DirectX.

Especially with DirectX 11 supporting tessellation and compute shaders, it's something that will really help the gaming market.

Here's to hoping it will help bring more games back to the PC.
0 Votes
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People have a point about 64 bit being the norm.
CobraA1 25th Jan 2010
I think people do have a point about 64 bit being the norm - it's becoming difficult to find a 32 bit system anymore.

Not that there's any good reason to look for 32 bit systems - I'm running 64 bits, and it works fantastically. It's great to be able to throw the settings to max and gobble up that memory with high-res textures grin.

. . . and oh, yeah - check out the GPU stats. That's why I keep on harping on ZDNet about being biased against nVidia whenever they put up a bunch of stuff about ATI - I KNOW that nVidia is still the top seller and a tough competitor. If you read what ZDNet publishes about nVidia from time to time, you'd think that nVidia has 10% market share or something like that. That is simply so not true.
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NVidia is getting socked by ATI right now
Lerianis10 26th Jan 2010
It isn't even a competitor in most of the arena now, even ALIENWARE has started offering ATI GPU's in their systems.
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Strange, it's not showing in the numbers.
CobraA1 Updated - 26th Jan 2010
Strange, it's not showing in the numbers.

What do I believe, your subjective opinion, or the numbers?

Most gamers do one of two things:

1) Buy a stock system and put a video card in it, or

2) Build a system from scratch.

Buying a specialized system like Alienware actually isn't done that often among gamers.
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PC gammers loving Win 7 is everything
NZJester 26th Jan 2010
As long as the new release games are for Windows we will stick to windows. I think the small amount of ground Windows has lost to the Mac and Linux has nothing to do with them at all but due to some younger gamers swapping to the X-Box and Play Station consoles leaving there parents more freedom to buy a non gaming PC, if they are not into gaming. If Mac or Linux started to get the latest release games coming out for them first, you would see a big jump in the uptake in the OS that got the games first. It was the porn industry choosing VHS over the better quality Beta-max that helped the VHS standard win the video tape wars and it is the Gaming industry that will help pick the winner in the OS wars. After all Beta-max did not disappear after it lost the home video tape wars, due to its higher quality it stuck around for years being used by TV studios & professional camera men till it was finally replaced by a better digital recording system. If gamers where to abandon windows for games consoles in bigger numbers and the new release games dried up for Windows, Linux and Mac I think both Linux & Mac could take a large share of the Windows market. But as i don't see a large exodus of gamers from Windows any time soon I don't see any way Linux or Mac will be able to keep up their gains they got from the small gamer exodus to consoles.

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