For several years, Nvidia’s GTX 1060 reigned as Steam’s most popular graphics card. The Pascal GPU was released in 2016 and became a fan favorite for its affordable performance.
While the GeForce GTX 1060 was still the most popular graphics card on Steam’s hardware survey last month, it has finally been dethroned. Nvidia’s GTX 1650 has now taken the top spot, with 6.27% of users opting for the budget graphics card.
As shown above, the GTX 1650 has gained much popularity on Steam. Released in 2019, the GTX 1650 offered decent performance for $149. But, the graphics card was criticized by reviewers as it failed to deliver a notable jump over the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.
A year later, the GTX 1650 saw a slight upgrade with GDDR6 memory, offering a boost to performance for the same price. However, the GTX 1650 is still weaker than the GTX 1060.
The older card offers more VRAM at 6GB, while the GTX 1650 offers 4GB. Furthermore, the GTX 1060 offers better performance even without considering VRAM limitations. On the other hand, GTX 1650 is highly power efficient and can be run without external power connectors.
The GPU market was also in a terrible state until recently. This likely pushed many consumers towards budget offerings, and the GTX 1650 was among the few viable options.
In terms of performance, both graphics cards are now showing their age. Users will struggle to hit 60 frames per second at 1080p without compromising visuals on most modern games. However, upscaling technologies like FSR can be a huge saving grace for graphics cards.
It should also be noted that Steam’s hardware survey combines the GTX 1060 3GB & 6GB variants. This, combined with other factors, has likely helped the legendary graphics card maintain its lead for so long.
However, a new king has now been crowned. The GTX 1650 is comfortably leading Steam’s hardware survey, but it remains to be seen if it can stay on top for the next few months.
What graphics card are you using currently? Do you like the GTX 1650? Let’s discuss this in the comments.
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[News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than three years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
