Intel’s newly announced Arc GPU, codenamed Battlemage, could potentially hit the market as early as December of this year, potentially beating Nvidia’s anticipated RTX 5000 release to the punch. The brand-new packing containers have been listed as ready for shipment, signaling that the hardware is nearly prepared for release.
The inaugural Intel dedicated graphics cards, subject of our Intel Arc A770 review, entered the mid-to-low-end market in 2022. As an alternative to AMD and Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs), Intel’s initial offerings were plagued by issues, requiring urgent driver updates to optimize performance.
The brand new GPUs may hit earlier than anticipated, although, because the aforementioned delivery manifest, shared by tech leaker X86 is useless&again in a on X (previously Twitter), dates again to September. Notably, the delivery notes primarily focus on the packaging of a graphics card, but also explicitly mention the Intel BMG 580 specification in the description. The dimensions are approximately 192 x 89 x 381 mm, suggesting this item is compact in size, possibly even a budget-friendly model made from lightweight materials such as cardboard.
Rumors of the Intel Battlemage’s December 2024 launch have persisted since our initial report in November, with this not being the first time such claims have surfaced. Intel appears to be gaining a significant advantage over its competitors with the highly anticipated next-generation of gaming cards. NVIDIA is reportedly poised to unveil its highly anticipated RTX 5000 series at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, slated to kick off on January 7, 2025.
Intel’s upcoming lineup of processors is expected to cater to the budget-conscious market. The Arc’s competitive pricing has fostered robust investment opportunities due to its cutting-edge hardware being consistently updated. While Intel’s GPUs don’t excel at delivering top-tier performance outside of 1080p resolutions in some games, they are increasingly appearing in minimal game specifications, as evident in the Avowed system requirements. With the recent Intel Lunar Lake launch, we’ve already gained insight into the efficiency of Battlemage through a preview showcased in the accompanying video provided by Intel.
The hardware company is expected to release three variants of the Battlemage GPUs, featuring its Xe2 architecture. According to recent rumors surrounding Battlemage’s specifications, the BMG-31, touted as its strongest mannequin, is capable of utilizing up to 32 Xe2 cores, with scaled-down versions featuring 24 and 20 core configurations.
If you’re in the market for a brand-new graphics card, check out our guide to the best options, where we walk you through our top picks to suit a range of budgets and needs.
