Key Takeaways
- Intel’s upcoming Battlemage GPUs are said to arrive before Black Friday this year.
- It can’t afford to have a rocky launch for its Battlemage GPUs, so it needs to iron out the drivers and other compatibility issues.
- Intel needs solid alternatives to entry-level and mid-range GPUs in its Battlemage lineup instead of going against the high-end cards.
- XeSS frame generation is crucial for the future of both Intel’s current-gen and next-gen graphics.
Intel’s first-generation Alchemist family of Arc GPUs that landed on our test bench couldn’t really leave a lasting impression on us. The Alchemist chip looked great on paper, but it turned out to be just average, at best. The driver issues truly took the GPU down, and it couldn’t stand a chance as a match for Nvidia’s GeForce RTX and AMD’s Radeon models at that time.
All eyes are now set on Intel’s next generation of GPUs, codenamed Battlemage. Rumor has it that these GPUs may land on the market before Black Friday this year, meaning it’s not too long until we see what Intel has been cooking behind the scenes. Intel continues to face an uphill battle against two of the established players in the GPU space, and it needs to get several things right in order to weave a successful redemption story.
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No more room for driver issues
Avoid a rocky start at all costs
It’s no secret that there aren’t too many Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs out there in the wild, and rightfully so. Not only were the GPUs a little late to the market than their planned release date, but the Arc Alchemist lineup also made an underwhelming debut with a ton of driver issues. A large set of DirectX 9 — and even some relatively newer DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 — games were downright unplayable, requiring a ton of optimization.
The entire Alchemist lineup is at a much better place right now, though, with some even serving as a solid alternative to more expensive counterparts from Nvidia and AMD in the budget GPU space. That just goes to show how much potential these GPUs had, and how the initial launch issues kept them from breaking into the mainstream market. The last thing I want to see is Intel’s Battlemage GPUs facing similar launch issues, and being unable to break into the market.
Intel needs a good performer, not a showstopper
Will Intel GPUs remain cheaper than AMD and Nvidia counterparts?
One thing which nailed it with its Arc Alchemist GPUs was pricing. The $350 price tag for the Arc A770, for instance, made a huge splash, grabbing a lot of much-needed attention for a GPU launch. A lot of the hype was overshadowed by the rocky launch these GPUs had, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Intel had the right strategy for the Arc Alchemist.
Assuming there are no driver-related issues plaguing the new GPUs this time, Intel really has to just focus on delivering solid alternatives to entry-level and mid-range graphics cards. It’s graphics cards like the RTX 3060, RTX 2060, and the GTX 1650 that dominate the mainstream market, and it would be great if Intel could focus on delivering a performer in these segments, instead of looking to dominate the market with alternatives to showstopper cards like the RTX 4090 and the RX 7900 XTX.
Bring XeSS back to the conversation
Crucial to both current and next-generation Intel graphics
Intel XeSS has been tip-toeing on the news occasionally, but it is yet to have its presence be shown significantly. The latest XeSS 1.3 update brings some new upscaling profiles to ensure it’s not ripe for improvements like AMD’s FSR, but it’s still not fully equipped to go head-to-head with Nvidia’s arsenal of graphics technologies. The XeSS frame generation tech dubbed ‘ExtraSS’ is still said to be in development, and Intel has mostly been tight-lipped about it so far.
Technically sound advancements to XeSS and the introduction of frame generation are crucial to shaping the future of Intel graphics, in my opinion, and it would be nice if we get see some movement in this space, just in time for the arrival of Battlemage GPUs. Things like XeSS frame generation would not only help the Battlemage GPUs become a huge success, but it’ll allow Intel’s existing hardware to improve and deliver better results over time. Things like the MSI Claw gaming handheld, which features Intel XeSS technology, will greatly benefit from all the improvements to the technology. Nvidia’s DLSS currently sits on top when it comes to upscaling and supersampling, but it still has plenty of room and scope for improvement, and it could really disrupt the frame generation pool as well.
We’ll see how things pan out soon
Intel has been dropping hints about the Battlemage graphics cards over the past year, but there’s still a lot that we don’t know about them yet. There is a lot we can piece together, but it’s better to leave speculations at the door as the GPUs are said to arrive in a few months’ time before Black Friday. The timeline we have right now also suggests that we might get Intel’s new GPUs a few months before the Nvidia and AMD lineup hits the store, so it’ll be interesting to see what Intel has in store for us.