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Intel is gearing up for the launch of its Intel Battlemage GPU, which must showcase major improvements to overcome its earlier issues. The launch of the first Arc GPUs didn't go well, thanks to driver issues and game crashes. However, Intel compensated for it by delivering a series of driver updates that slowly fixed all the crashes, including performance issues to a great degree.
But are Battlemage GPUs capable of standing up to rivals like Nvidia and AMD? It's hard to tell exactly this early, but there are enough leaks to say Intel can indeed stand up against its rivals. This article tells you how the company is planning to achieve that.
Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
Intel Battlemage GPU: Expected specs and features
The original Intel Arc GPUs were based on the Alchemist Xe architecture, attaining the name Arc Axxx series. Now, Intel is launching its 2nd generation of GPUs based on the Battlemage Xe 2 architecture, which could be named as the Arc Bxxx series. But for now, they will be referred to as Intel Battlemage GPUs. Here's everything you need to know about these upcoming Intel GPUs.
GPU specs and performance target
Like AMD, once again Intel seems to have no plans to compete against the top Nvidia cards like the Nvidia RTX 4090 or the upcoming Nvidia RTX 5090. The leaker, momomo_us has discovered a shipping manifest depicting two Battlemage GPUs, BMG-G21 and BMG-G10. For those unaware, almost all of momomo_us's 11th Gen and Ryzen CPU leaks came true.
This leak from momomo_us was further corroborated by RedgamingTech, another leaker who, unfortunately, doesn't have the best reputation. Moore's Law is Dead, another prominent leaker, mentioned that the BMG-G21 GPU die is not the top-end Intel Battlemage GPU die as reported by RedGamingTech, and there's another variant called BMG-G31.
Currently, there are three Intel Battlemage GPU dice, namely BMG-G10, G21, and G31. The G10 is the lowest-end GPU die. The G21 is the mid-range GPU die, while the G31 is the flagship Battlemage GPU die that could target the likes of RTX 4080, the upcoming Nvidia RTX 5080, or the AMD RX 7900 XT. Moore's Law is Dead did get many of the RDNA 2 leaks correctly, which makes the above information more credible.
According to him, the BMG-G31 will have 32 Xe cores/512 EUs/4096 shader cores, the same number of shader cores as Intel Arc A770. The BMG-G21 is supposed to have 20 Xe cores/320 EUs/2560 shader cores. Moreover, the cut-down variants of both GPU die will have reduced EU cores. So you should expect the lowest-end, BMG-G10, to have an even lower number of cores.
Since there is no increase in the core count, memory bus, or memory capacity, all the performance upgrades must come from the architectural changes. RedgamingTech has mentioned there will be changes at the micro-architectural level. Here are some of those modifications:
- Moving from 8 ALUs (Arithmetic Logical Units) per EU (Execution unit) to 16 ALUs per EU.
- Moving from 16 EUs per Xe core to 8 EUs per Xe core
Essentially, the company is increasing the ALU count inside each EU while decreasing the EU count for Intel Battlemage GPUs. It helps save some die space without major performance loss. Smaller EU size combined with the rumored TSMC's 5nm N5P process means the GPU die size will shrink.
This leak perfectly lines up with the proposed G31 die size of 387 mm² leaked by Moore's Law is Dead, which is smaller than Intel Arc A770's die size of 406 mm².
Memory specs and performance targets
The BMG-G31 GPU die will have 16 GB of memory capacity with a 256-bit memory bus, the same as Intel Arc A770 GPU. However, the memory chip is said to be on GDDR6X, an improvement over the GDDR6 SDRAM. The GDDR6 memory has a 16 Gbit/s per-pin bandwidth, while GDDR6X has a significantly higher 19-21 Gbit/s per-pin bandwidth.
The BMG-G21 GPU die will have 12 GB memory capacity and a 192-bit memory bus. Additionally, its cut-down variants will have reduced memory capacities of 10 GB and 8 GB. However, the die may not support GDD6X and instead, might rely on the GDDR6 SDRAM.
Older leaks from RedGamingTech suggested a new memory compression system for Intel Battlemage GPUs. Such a system would be beneficial in dealing with VRAM memory issues that troubled some GPUs, particularly in games like Last of Us Part 1. But this claim hasn't been corroborated by other leakers, so take this with a grain of salt.
Ray tracing and frame generation
The ray tracing performance is also said to be improved. Tom Petersen from Intel stated in the Arc A-series ray tracing deep dive video that its ray tracing capabilities are in line with the Nvidia RTX 3000 series or even better. So, with these new Intel Battlemage GPUs, ray tracing performance could be even better and right in line with the next generation of GPUs from Nvidia and AMD.
Furthermore, Intel is developing its version of the frame generation technology called ExtraSS. But instead of using the frame extrapolation technique, which incurred a significant latency increase, Intel will use the frame interpolation technique. It might release the ExtraSS alongside the arrival of Battlemage GPUs.
Is Intel Battlemage GPU capable of standing against rivals Nvidia and AMD?
Intel didn't target the top-end RTX 3090 when it first launched the Arc A770, and it seems that it won't target the RTX 4090 or the upcoming RTX 5090 with the Battlemage GPU either. Instead, leaks suggest Intel will target three GPU classes, low-end, mid-range, and high-end GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia. So, are Intel Battlemage GPUs capable of standing against rivals Nvidia and AMD at release?
Looking at the leaked specs, Intel could have what it takes to compete with Nvidia and AMD, so long as the drivers and the pricing are right. Even if the company fails to beat them in performance, it has a chance to win in terms of pricing and value, as with the original Arc GPUs.
