Intel lays the groundwork for Xe3 Celestial graphics — Panther Lake CPU enablement in Linux has begun

News
By
published

Work on Intel's 3rd-generation Xe architecture has already begun.

Intel Xe Graphics
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel engineers have been spotted working on Xe3 (codenamed Celestial) enablement in Linux’s grand archive of all mail that affects kernel development. The latest update to the drm-xe-next pull request, dated October 10, 2024, was flagged by Phoronix after it showed several references to Xe3. This probably means that driver development for this GPU architecture has begun for Linux, even though discrete Xe2 Battlemage GPUs are yet to hit the market.

The Xe2 graphics just arrived on the market as iGPUs inside the Intel Core 200V (codenamed Lunar Lake) chips, four years after the launch of the first Intel Xe architecture in 2020 and two years after the arrival of the first generation Intel Arc Alchemist discrete GPUs. The next-generation Battlemage GPUs reportedly began shipping in July, with more details surfacing in August. We expect these GPUs to arrive early next year, thus giving Intel a launch schedule of three to four years between graphics architectures.

Xe3 will first debut inside Intel’s Core Ultra 300 (codenamed Panther Lake) processors, which are the successors of Lunar Lake. Phoronix discovered various graphics PCI IDs for Panther Lake, consisting of 0xB080, 0xB081, 0xB082, 0xB090, 0xB091, 0xB092, 0xB0A0, 0xB0A1, and 0xB0A2. Panther Lake is rumored to arrive in 2025; however, it may take a while to see Celestial GPUs since Battlemage GPUs haven’t yet arrived. Realistically, Celestial GPUs may not be ready until 2026.

Although Intel’s GPUs are still a long way from Nvidia’s and, to some extent, AMD’s top offerings, we know that it will take the company several years, maybe even several decades, before it can offer a high-end GPU that will compete against something like the RTX 4090 or even the RX 7900 XTX. Nevertheless, more competition is always welcomed, and we can only hope that Xe3 can deliver on the performance end, allowing us consumers more options for high-end discrete GPUs.

See more GPUs News
Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dwd999
    Intel's GPUs would be especially welcome if their drivers cause fewer BSODs than those other companies drivers.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    At the rate things are going I can't help but wonder if Battlemage is even going to wind up in discrete cards. It's been clear for a while now that Celestial was going to be the basis for the IGP on PTL which is likely late 2025 release. Unless Intel is planning a surprise Battlemage launch by the end of November I just don't see the it making a lot of sense. The only way I see it making sense later is if the performance per area has significantly increased and they have something like 4070/7800 XT level of performance they can sell for $250-300. It's the sort of splash the discrete video card market needs, but just seems very unlikely.
    Reply
  • P.Amini
    Although Intel’s GPUs are still a long way from Nvidia’s and, to some extent, AMD’s top offerings, we know that it will take the company several years, maybe even several decades, before it can offer a high-end GPU that will compete against something like the RTX 4090 ...
    Most people can't / don't want to buy those highest end graphics cards and won't spend more than $500 - $600 on a VGA.
    Reply
  • Mama Changa
    This announcement is pointless. They did the same thing for Lunar Lake, and it's iGPU performance on Linux is still currently a joke, despite releasing drivers very early.
    Reply
  • das_stig
    A lot of devices don't need the horsepower of NV or AMD GPU's, Intel GPUs are known for low power, just good enough for daily work, stability and costs. Thats attractive to both manufacturers and users.
    Reply
  • Notton
    Yeah, I just want a budget, power efficient, AV1 decode/encode GPU for my repurposed PC that I no longer use for gaming.
    Reply
  • jlake3
    das_stig said:
    A lot of devices don't need the horsepower of NV or AMD GPU's, Intel GPUs are known for low power, just good enough for daily work, stability and costs. Thats attractive to both manufacturers and users.
    Intel’s integrated graphics certainly are known for that, but I’m not sure how much of a market there is for “just good enough for daily work” discrete graphics. Even if it’s cheap a dGPU is still an added cost, and Intel’s iGPUs support up to four monitors. Most DIY motherboards might not have that many ports, but Dell sells Optiplexs that do.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    I use an A380 for general desktop use in Linux. Works fine for browsing, video playback, and the like.

    $300 is a very optimistic price for 4070 like performance out of Battlemage. A770 sits around $270-300, and that is after years of sales and price drops. (Launched at $350 based on relative performance) If they get anywhere near 4070/4070 Super territory, they will charge $500 at least. 4070 is available at $500 right now, that probably won't last. 7900 GRE is $530.
    Reply
  • DS426
    P.Amini said:
    Most people can't / don't want to buy those highest end graphics cards and won't spend more than $500 - $600 on a VGA.
    Exactly; consumers need more and better-performing GPU's that they can afford, not the small market that exists at the top. Even AMD doesn't care to waste limited resources on the top-end, at least not until they get better, broader developer support.
    Reply
  • DS426
    "Intel engineers have been spotted working on Linux drivers for the Xe3 graphics architecture."

    And some of those engineers aren't going to be at Intel much longer. :/ The future of Intel graphics doesn't look bright at this time.
    Reply