Rumor has it that Intel will be unveiling its second-generation desktop graphics card next month, well ahead of the expected arrival of competing next-gen GPUs from AMD and Nvidia. The Intel Arc Battlemage graphics cards are said to be “performing brilliantly next month,” according to one source of leaked information.
The first generation of Intel Arc desktop GPUs didn’t exactly shake up our best graphics card guide, as we found in our Intel Arc A770 review, but eventually, after many driver updates, they have come to be seen as decent entry-level options. Meanwhile, rumors about the vastly superior performance of its second generation of cards have swirled for years now. If those rumors are at all true, and Intel is about to launch its new cards in time for the holiday season, it could seriously shake up the GPU market.
The rumor comes from regular tech leak source Golden Pig Upgrade, in a post on Chinese social network, Weibo. In a (translated) post, Golden Pig Upgrade says that they are “looking forward to the wonderful performance of Battlemage (desktop limit) next month.”
Assuming there’s any validity to this leak, it could be interpreted in several ways. Firstly, it could hint at Battlemage GPUs actually launching next month, with reviewers and possibly even buyers being able to see that “wonderful performance” for themselves. This seems unlikely but is still possible.
The second option is that Intel will be announcing the cards next month, and showing off its own performance figures. This is much more likely, as Intel could do a so-called soft launch and not actually have products available to buy for months. Instead, it could just be looking to build hype for its GPUs ahead of the expected unveiling of new AMD and Nvidia GPUs at the CES trade show in January 2025.
The third option is that Golden Pig Upgrade is simply talking about them being able to either get hold of a Battlemage GPU themselves or have access to performance data from another source next month. If a January launch for the cards is on the… cards, then distribution of the GPUs could be ramping up around now, leading to more availability of leaked data.
Golden Pig Upgrade has decent form when it comes to tech leaks so there’s reason to be hopeful that any of the above options will come to pass in December. However, there’s absolutely no guarantee, so take this suggestion with a grain of salt. It’s also worth bearing in mind that “next month” could mean December 31, which would only be seven days before CES 2025 kicks off anyway.
As for the Intel Arc Battlemage specs we can expect, rumors from as long ago as March 2024 show some possible figures for the number of Xe Cores and the Vector Engines (the bits that do the number crunching), along with clock speeds, L2 cache, and VRAM amounts. However, these leaked specs, and the benchmark figures that also leaked with them, suggest these are low-end cards, not flagship options.
| Arc Battlemage GPU #1 | Arc Battlemage GPU #2 | |
| Xe Cores | 24 | 20 |
| Vector Engines | 192 | 160 |
| L2 cache | 8MB | 8MB |
| VRAM | 11.6GB (12GB) | 11.6GB (12GB) |
| Clock speed | 1.8GHz | 1.8GHz |
For more on what we’re expecting from AMD and Nvidia’s big GPU launches early next year, check out our RTX 5090 guide and our AMD RDNA 4 guide for all the latest.
