Something to look forward to: The scant official information available thus far suggested that Intel planned to launch a new "Battlemage" generation of discrete Xe GPUs with two boards, but evidence of a third briefly appeared on the company's website. Combine this information with prior reports and it's likely this is a third entry-level graphics card in the works.
Recently removed internal documentation on Intel's website named a never-before-mentioned GPU from the company's upcoming Battlemage lineup. Intel's naming scheme for dedicated graphics suggests that it lies one performance tier beneath the products expected to launch several months from now.
The leaked webpage, restricted to designers, described a BGA3283-BMG-G31 chip. Earlier reports uncovered the top two Battlemage GPUs – BMG G10 and BMG G21 – echoing the Arc Alchemist series' "ACM-G" nomenclature.
Intel's labeling likely follows the pattern Nvidia and AMD GPUs share, where a lower number at the end of the name indicates a higher-end chip variant. For example, the GeForce RTX 4090 is based on Nvidia's AD102 chip, while the RTX 4080 uses the AD103. Meanwhile, AMD's Radeon RX 7900 cards incorporate the company's Navi 31 GPU, and the Navi 32 powers the RX 7800 and 7700 products.
Also read: When Are Next-Gen GPUs Launching? Should You Buy Now or Wait?
Thus, BMG-G31 is likely the lowest-tier Battlemage chip yet disclosed, but the meaning of "lower-end" remains unclear until details on the lineup's launch graphics cards emerge. The latest rumors suggest Intel plans to ship mid-range or mainstream GPUs either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year, with no enthusiast-class product in sight.
ACM-G10: BGA 2660
– Bionic_Squash (@SquashBionic) June 29, 2024
BMG-G21: BGA 2362
BMG-G10: BGA 2727
BMG-G31: BGA 3283
(BMG-G10 not planned for release) https://t.co/ogDVDIayRJ
In this scheme, BMG-G31 is probably an entry-level chip and might be mobile-exclusive. Leaker Bionic_Squash claims it will feature 32 Xe-cores, the same amount as the Arc A770 – the Alchemist series' top offering. In our review last year, that GPU traded blows with Nvidia's RTX 3060.
Still, Intel claims that the Xe2 cores at the heart of Battlemage improved Lunar Lake's integrated GPU performance by 50 percent compared to prior Alchemist-based iGPUs. The new cores might perform better in dedicated cards.
The latest rumors regarding upcoming GPU launches show that Battlemage could beat AMD's RDNA 4 (RX 8000) and especially Nvidia's mid-range Blackwell (RTX 5000) chips to market. Team Red is currently expected to unveil a mainstream-exclusive lineup at CES next January, while Team Green might launch new enthusiast-class GPUs before the end of 2024, followed by mid-range counterparts sometime in 2025.