Intel's Battlemage GPUs are rumoured for December, well before AMD and Nvidia next-gen chips

Intel has been in an uncertain position for a while. Intel is in need of a victory. Its latest chips, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245, and Intel Core Ultra 9 285, are underperforming in games due to instabilities with its 13th and fourteenth-generation chips. If its new Battlemage GPUs are up to the challenge, Intel could get that win in the next month.

According to Hot Hardware, Golden Pig, a reputable hardware leaker, has confirmed that the new line-up of GPUs is set to arrive next month. In a post on Weibo (a Chinese social media site), they expressed their excitement for the "wonderful" performance of Battlemage. Although these cards are expected to arrive before Nvidia's RTX5070 and RTX5080 lines, it is important to remember that Battlemage does not intend to compete with those models.

Intel will instead aim to match the performance of the Nvidia RTX 4070 and not try to match anything higher than the RTX 4080. If you've been waiting for something better than Nvidia 40-series cards, you wont get it next month. Intel may be able entice you if you're looking to upgrade from an older generation.

The Weibo post may have been translated with a hint of sarcasm. Golden Pig may be referring to the fact that there is only one month left in the year and that Intel has been expected to launch Battlemage by 2024. Also, the "exciting performance" or "wonderful" (depending upon your machine translation) may not be what Intel's next-gen GPUs are expected to deliver.

We tested the previous Arc Cards and found that they were unoptimized, with a high power draw. The cards were competitive in some areas, but lacked the power to stand out. Now that we have seen the Battlemage graphics inside the latest Lunar Lake processors it gives us hope that things have changed. The iGPU has a more consistent gaming performance in a variety of games than the original Arc GPUs. As always, the price/performance ratio will be crucial to Intel's success with Battlemage.

Intel's iGPU performance is better due to a comment made by Intel CEO just this week. Pat Gelsinger stated in the latest quarterly that he sees a "lessening need for discrete graphic", which could imply Intel is moving completely away from dedicated GPUs such as the Arc line.

Intel needs something to work in the gaming sector. Nothing is confirmed yet, so everything should be taken with a pinch of salt. GoldenPig was right before. By the end of next month, we might know if Battlemage will help Intel regain some of its goodwill.