Rumor mill: Rumors have been flying about Intel’s next-gen Arc GPU, with recent leaks claiming that Battlemage will focus strictly on the low-to-mid tier sector. Newer information suggests that Intel will be bringing a powerful variant to the market after all.
Signs of life have emerged for Intel’s Battlemage high-end graphics cards. A few months ago, YouTube rumor brokers had given it up for dead. These new leaks come from @momomo_us on X, who shared several shipment manifests, including one for Battlemage showing a pair of desktop (Xe2-HPG) graphics cards, one codenamed BMG-G10 and the other BMG-G21.
Until now, the fate of Intel’s Battlemage graphics cards looked grim. YouTube leakers, including RedGamingTech and Moore’s Law Is Dead, reported that Intel was scaling back its plans for these next-gen GPUs although the details varied depending on the leaker.
10th Gen SKU memo pic.twitter.com/DC7qoTKLkW
– 188å· (@momomo_us) May 8, 2020
RedGamingTech said that Intel was considering discontinuing the enthusiast class GPU, which was expected to feature 56 Xe cores, known as G10. Financial viability was the reason. He noted that the average person doesn’t want to spend $1500 on a graphics card.
Moore’s Law Is Dead shared a master document from an anonymous source outlining Intel’s existing plans for Battlemage. It said that while the company still plans to make desktop and workstation cards, it has canceled mobile versions.
Based on these rumors and others, the general assumption was that Intel is opting to focus on producing Battlemage cards for mid-to-lower tier systems. Of course, the market should not take the leaked shipping manifests as gospel. TechRadar points out that it’s intriguing to see G10 again, but we don’t know what GPU is behind the codename.
It’s been almost two years since Intel pretended to launch Alchemist and we still have no news on Battlemage ðÂ¥² https://t.co/J5KYUDoTVr
– Kepler (@Kepler_L2) March 21, 2024
Some smaller versions are on Sisoft…I guess they are coming. Single-float GP Compute looks quite good for just 160VE/192VE. Doesn’t tell much about the release though, I guess anything between Q4 2024 and Q2 2025 is a possibility.
– Michael (@miktdt) March 24, 2024
Yet another leak adds credence to the idea that Intel hasn’t abandoned its previous plans for Battlemage. One X user spotted new Intel Battlemage GPUs on SiSoftware Sandra. One was the Xe2-HPG variant aimed at the discrete graphics segment, and the other was the Xe2-LPG variant designated for integrated graphics for upcoming CPUs such as Lunar Lake.
Our only official information is a roadmap presentation slide showing that Intel has slated its upcoming Arc Battlemage GPUs for release sometime this year. It was part of Intel’s keynote to mark the Japanese launch of the Meteor Lake CPUs. The presentation focused primarily on the company’s AI-related ambitions, but one slide contained a section for GPUs that featured an image of a Battlemage graphics chip. It marked the first time Intel publicly indicated that the new dedicated GPUs would launch in 2024.
