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Intel is allegedly gearing up to release a new next gen wave of ‘Battlemage’ graphics cards, and they might land amid the chaos of Black Friday. The Arc successor is set to be the tech giant’s second generation of GPUs, following the slow launch of cards using ‘Alchemist’ chips throughout the last two years
Just like Nvidia and AMD’s best graphics card contenders, Intel’s first GPU line-up released the final quarter of 2022. The Arc A770 arrived on October 11, but it took a while for the entire range of discrete and dedicated options to make it outside of China. Not to mention a range of driver issues originally caused a ruckus for players, with issues plagued gaming PC performance for early adopters. Thankfully, cards are now both widely available and feature pretty robust drivers due to ongoing support, and that might be why we’re finally hearing whispers about a successive generation.
According to a report by Computerbase, “industry circles” say that Intel Arc Battlemage graphics cards will land “before Black Friday.” That may sound a little vague considering the big sale takes place just after Thanksgiving, but it’s perhaps a nod that the line-up will emerge either early November or even late October. Opting for the latter would create somewhat of a launch pattern since Alchemist launched at the same time of year, and we know that GPU makers love sticking with a release date rhythm.
The report backs up its Battlemage release date claim by stating that Intel wants to “take advantage of the strong sales season,” which makes sense given that many players hold off on buying parts until the big event. It’d also give the company a nice excuse to discount Alchemist cards and clear up stock, as last year’s bonanza slashed the range to record low prices.
That said, Intel is once again potentially releasing its next gen GPUs dangerously close to the launch date of RTX 5000 cards, with rumours also pointing towards late 2024. I’d argue doing so is somewhat of a gamble, as the blue team’s offering could be drowned out by flagship noise generated by the ridiculous capabilities of something like an RTX 5090. On the flip side, Nvidia isn’t always great at having entry-level and mid-range options available early on in a generation, meaning Intel could convince some PC gamers on a budget to switch allegiances using shiny new cards.
Naturally, it’s worth taking these rumors with a grain of salt, especially since Intel hasn’t disclosed an official next gen release date. Funnily enough, Intel also apparently isn’t done with Alchemist yet, as the company just announced six new GPUs at Embedded World 2024. Since we’re talking about models for embedded systems, it’s safe to say you won’t be using one to run Steam games, but newcomers like the 7xxE range do offer up AI capabilities.
Should you wait for Intel Arc Battlemage graphics cards?
With rumors of new Intel graphics cards brewing, those of you eyeing up cards like the Arc A770 are likely wondering if you should hold off. After all, we’re only four months into 2024, and waiting it out would effectively mean either using older parts or postponing any new build plans you may have. With that in mind, whether you should wait fully depends on whether you’d rather wait and see if your money will gain you new features and more performance compared to current models, with the latter being pretty much a given.
Of course, the fact that the new rumors point towards GPUs arriving before Black Friday graphics card deals kick off is also worth keeping in mind. Even if you do wait, you’ll end up shopping for a new card at an optimal time of year. It’s hard to tell whether A770 and A750 stock will still be around to actually receive a discount, but if models are still available, they might end up cheaper than ever. Simply put, if you end up deciding that Battlemage cards aren’t worth the discount, their predecessors might be worth picking up based on price alone.
In any case, if you’re not desperately in need of a graphics card right now, holding off until the end of the year will be beneficial. Intel’s range already offers up pretty respectable levels of performance for the money, but it does feel like November is going to be the golden month to pick up anything Intel GPU related.
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