AMD is winning over PC gamers from Intel, suggests new report

(Image credit: Tomshw)

Intel’s traditional dominance in the PC gaming market could be under serious threat if a new report is to be believed, with the results suggesting that 41% of PC gamers now use AMD processors.

The report, which is a collaboration between  Jon Peddie Research, Antikythera Intelligence and Research, and the Wccftech website, surveyed PC gamers visiting Wccftech about their current gaming hardware and their future buying plans.

The survey was launched in October 2019 and garnered 4,477 responses, and the results have now been published in a 55-page report. As the report is aimed at OEMs, shops and component suppliers, you’ll need to pay $9,000 for the full thing, but Wccftech has kindly posted some of the results on its site.

Perhaps the biggest surprise included in the report is the high percentage of PC gamers which are using AMD processors, with 41% of respondents saying they rock a chip by Team Red.

Traditionally, Intel has had a huge market lead when it comes to gamers, but if these results are accurate, it looks like AMD is catching up to Intel – and fast.

Should Intel be worried?

So, how worried should Intel be? First of all, we need to remember that these results are of a relatively small sample of a website’s visitors. Wccftech is a very techy website, which means its audience is going to be skewed towards enthusiasts, so it’s likely not representative of mainstream PC gamers.

Still, if AMD is proving to be so popular with enthusiast gamers and tech fans, then that should be cause for concern for Intel. They can be some of the loudest voices on the internet, and if AMD is getting a lot of positive word of mouth from them, that could sway other gamers when buying a new CPU.

As Windows Central reports, a Steam hardware survey from October 2019, which asked Steam users what hardware they are using, suggested that only 19.39% of Windows users who use Steam have an AMD CPU.

That certainly gives Intel a larger lead, and while it’s only surveying Steam users, the popularity of Valve’s software means the sample size will be a lot larger. However, it does show that AMD growing its market share there as well.

AMD’s certainly had a great run recently, and we’d love to see Intel respond with some truly innovative products in 2020 to make sure that PC gamers stick with its chips.

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.