Progress with Intel's Battlemage graphics cards may seem a little shaky, due to a new update to a YouTube leak.
This is Moore's Law is Dead (MLID), a regular source of leaks from the world of GPUs (and CPUs, as well as consoles), which has a new video that goes into some depth. One of which is the second-generation Arc GPUs, and an Intel source told us that the last time there were updates to the Battlemage test boards was in April 2023.
Yes, that was almost a year ago, which is obviously a worrying sign that Intel is making slow progress in making Battlemage. However, it is equally obvious that we should be wary of a single rumor.
The MLID source goes on to add another nugget of information gleaned from some internal Intel documents, namely that final validation of Battlemage is scheduled for Q4 2024 at the earliest.
In short, we will be “very lucky” to see next-generation Arc GPUs come out this year, and they may not even arrive that early in 2025 – the validation process may take up to a few months (one to three months, typically). If Battlemage graphics cards arrive, MLID notes at the end of the rumor, on a more pessimistic note.
Analysis: Dispelling Doom
Of course, we should not allow ourselves to be carried away by pessimism; This is just a rumor and a complete cancellation of Battlemage will surely not happen. It will be? Well, okay, it's not beyond the realm of possibility, but what we've heard elsewhere doesn't point towards this kind of scenario. Still.
That said, a few weeks ago MLID passed along the rumor (again, add seasoning) that Battlemage for laptops has been scrapped. But abandoning the entire Arc line is another matter entirely, and of course the leaker isn't telling us that this is something he's heard, just that it could be a (hopefully very remote) possibility.
Intel is certainly holding its own in terms of talking about Battlemage recently. But then, the Blue Team would obviously be papering over any cracks that appear behind the scenes, introducing the second generation of Arc to the public, naturally.
However, even with Intel's latest update (at CES 2024 last month), it seemed like Battlemage would likely be delayed until early 2025, rather than arriving this year. And that largely seems like a real possibility, which is a bit disappointing.
Mainly because there are pretty high expectations for Intel's performance with Battlemage, especially considering how Alchemist has been constantly improved, with impressive gains achieved through new drivers time and time again. Anticipation levels are suitably high, even if Intel's next-gen range ends up being just low-end GPUs, as has been claimed for some time now.
In fact, we could use a more compelling rival to the GPU duopoly at the budget end of the market, which has actually been neglected for too long (certainly by Nvidia).
