What you need to know
- Intel’s “Battlemage” GPUs are already being tested in labs.
- The new GPU architecture is expected to bring a massive performance uplift over the current “Alchemist” Arc GPUs.
- Battlemage is expected to launch some time in 2024.
Intel’s initial Arc GPU efforts codenamed “Alchemist” didn’t have the smoothest of launches back in early 2022, with multiple driver issues making them almost unusable for many. Since then, however, Intel has put in a lot of effort to improve the drivers, making Arc a rather appealing GPU purchase for those on a budget, and they continue to get better with every update.
“Battlemage” is Intel’s next generation GPU architecture. It’s scheduled to release some time in 2024 and it appears that it is already in pre-production. This is according to Mr Andreas Schilling, editor at German hardware site HardwareLuxx. The new information was spotted by him whilst on a tour of the Intel facility in Malaysia.
I’ve seen wafers with Emerald Rapids XCC on them, that were being cut. Not a surprise at all, but still …Also MTL682_C0, so Meteor Lake with 6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores and GT2 Graphic Tile tested in a C0 stepping and finally the Failure Lab already saw BMG G10 – Battlemage is real. https://t.co/rKr7au95JZAugust 29, 2023
Note that Andreas said he saw chips marked “BMG-G10”. When you compare this to Alchemist labelled as “ACM-G10,” which is what’s used in the Arc A750 and A770. It’s not that difficult to work out what that is. Battlemage is also not meant to go up against the most expensive GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA. A previous leak from RedGamingtech on YouTube shows Battlemage being a competitor to the likes of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 and the AMD Radeon 7800XT, targeting the performance/enthusiast gamer base.
All of this points to a significant improvement for Intel’s Arc GPUs and with their current range of cards. The Arc A750 and A770 are now available at reasonable prices to go with the huge improvement in drivers. Hopes are high that Battlemage can bring much needed competition to a market that is desperate for it. And maybe we’ll get it at a competitive price.
