Intel Arc Xe2 Battlemage GPUs rumored to arrive next month — ahead of AMD RDNA 4 and Nvidia Blackwell

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That is not something we expected.

Intel Xe Graphics
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel is on track to launch its next-generation Arc desktop GPUs codenamed "Battlemage" next month, per Golden Pig Upgrade Pack - a hardware sleuth and a reliable leaker. Battlemage will utilize Intel's Xe2-HPG architecture - a spinoff of Xe2-LPG seen on Intel's latest Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) CPUs.

The leaker doesn't go in-depth regarding the details and says they're looking forward to Battlemage on "desktop" next month. These GPUs are said to offer brilliant performance, but we don't expect them to topple Nvidia's RTX 4090 and the like. Again, if this leak is accurate, Intel has done a brilliant job in preventing leaks, as the lack of information about Arc has led many to believe that Battlemage's desktop variant was effectively axed.

During the latest Q3 24 earnings, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger highlighted that the market doesn't have much demand for discrete GPUs - indicating a shift in focus towards integrated mobile solutions. This did not bode well for Arc or whatever was left of it, as Intel has been unusually tight-lipped about Battlemage. In April, a rumor alleged that Intel aims to release Battlemage before Black Friday (November 29).

Battlemage leak

(Image credit: Weibo)

Whatever Team Blue's strategies are, it is good to see that Battlemage is in the works and should be an excellent choice for the mainstream segment - provided the drivers are ironed out. As it stands, Battlemage will feature three primary GPUs: Arc BMG-31, Arc BMG-20, and Arc BMG-G10. An unnamed Arc Battlemage GPU recently surfaced wielding 32 Xe2 cores - probably the flagship.

Battlemage is oriented toward the budget segment, akin to AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 GPUs. Nvidia will still lead the premium segment; however, given the increasing competition, Team Green might be forced to price its budget GPUs accordingly.

Intel appears to capitalize on the upcoming holiday season for its Battlemage GPUs. This makes sense because a CES launch, with actual capacity in the following weeks, might not have been as successful. In any case, should this leak materialize - Intel is expected to unveil its Battlemage desktop GPUs next month - likely before the holidays.

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Hassam Nasir
Hassam Nasir
Contributing Writer

Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.

21 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Roland Of Gilead
    I wonder if this will be the last GPU we see from Intel for a while!? I figure it's just a matter of time that the GPU division, which can't be making money, is cut. The market is too hard to penetrate with nVIdia monopoly, and AMD even struggling to gain market share. I just don't see how this works for Intel in anyway.
    Reply
  • why_wolf
    To late. Threw done some money on a 4070 Ti Super yesterday. Not going to wait around to see how bad pricing gets later.
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    Will it be announced or released?. To me it is not released if you can not buy it.
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    Roland Of Gilead said:
    I wonder if this will be the last GPU we see from Intel for a while!? I figure it's just a matter of time that the GPU division, which can't be making money, is cut. The market is too hard to penetrate with nVIdia monopoly, and AMD even struggling to gain market share. I just don't see how this works for Intel in anyway.
    They want some of the AI magic to make their share price go up.
    Reply
  • dwd999
    For me the question will be how much better do these gpus with Intel's Xe2-HPG architecture perform when compared to the igpus built into the new Core Ultra 200 class cpus. If they won't perform substantially better than what I'll be getting when I buy a Core Ultra 9 285K then they won't be of any use to me.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    I will buy, if it works in Linux and doesn't consume loads of power at idle, which was one of the main negatives about Alchemist for me. I didn't even mind the A770's performance, all that much, and it had all the features I wanted (AI, ray tracing, good OpenCL stack, AV1 acceleration, 16 GB of RAM). I just need something that isn't going to burn 40W of power just to show the desktop.
    Reply
  • DS426
    Roland Of Gilead said:
    I wonder if this will be the last GPU we see from Intel for a while!? I figure it's just a matter of time that the GPU division, which can't be making money, is cut. The market is too hard to penetrate with nVIdia monopoly, and AMD even struggling to gain market share. I just don't see how this works for Intel in anyway.
    The last discrete GPU we see from Intel for awhile, yes, I'm one to believe so given their 15% labor force reduction. It takes huge R&D funds to even somewhat compete with nVidia on dGPU's, and even AMD (even as they lose market share themselves). Intel has lost money from Arc Alchemist, and it's hard to see how they'll do much better than break-even for Battlemage when AMD and Intel are release new product soon as well. Battlemage's advantage is holiday sales if this release timeframe is true, but some to many will still wait to see how all three competitors stack up against each other.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    I think Intel learned a very hard lesson with the Arc launch so it definitely makes sense to be quiet until releasing a product. In general I hope the recent launches are more indicative of how things will go where they acknowledge the existence but don't really talk about it until there's something real to show.

    There's no indication that Intel is slowing graphics hardware development so the question will mostly what markets they play in. PTL uses Celestial for IGP so we know that the first 3 generations of Arc hardware are at least real. Whether or not this translates to anything outside of integrated solutions is anyone's guess as nothing has been said.

    I can't imagine they'll release anything that ticks the fast/efficient/cost boxes I'd need to buy a new video card, but I'm hoping they release something that can make a splash in the market.
    Reply
  • JayNor
    Discrete GPUs will get a boost in sales if edge AI processing takes off ... and the AI processing benchmarks will be more important than the ridiculous gaming FPS.
    Reply
  • ManDaddio
    Roland Of Gilead said:
    I wonder if this will be the last GPU we see from Intel for a while!? I figure it's just a matter of time that the GPU division, which can't be making money, is cut. The market is too hard to penetrate with nVIdia monopoly, and AMD even struggling to gain market share. I just don't see how this works for Intel in anyway.

    NVIDIA is not a monopoly. I wish people would stop saying that. They are a winner in a market of competition. Consumers have chosen what to buy. Not NVIDIA.

    NVIDIA is reaping the rewards of smart decisions. Whether you like it or not.
    Reply