4Gamer.net has published a new article about Intel’s new Core Ultra processors, and it includes a roadmap that can confirm the first GPUs to leverage “Battlemage,” Intel’s second-generation Xe HPG discrete graphics microarchitecture, are on track to launch in 2024 as planned.
Here’s what Intel has said about its Xe HPG microarchitecture, which Raja Koduri, who is no longer with the company, premiered back in 2021 during an Architecture Day event:
Xe HPG is a new discrete graphics microarchitecture designed to scale to enthusiast-class performance for gaming and creation workloads. The Xe HPG microarchitecture powers the Alchemist family of SoCs, and the first related products are coming to market in the first quarter of 2022 under the Intel Arc brand. The Xe HPG microarchitecture features a new Xe -core, a compute-focused, programmable and scalable element.
The client graphics roadmap includes Alchemist (previously known as DG2), Battlemage, Celestial and Druid SoCs. During the presentation, Intel provided microarchitectural details and shared demos running on a preproduction Alchemist SoCs, showing real gameplay, an Unreal Engine 5 health test and a new neural-based super sampling technology called XeSS.
Alchemist is currently offered under Intel’s family of Arc 7, Arc 5, and Arc 3 graphics, with the most powerful option being the Arc A770, a GPU that features 32 Xe cores, a 2,100 MHz graphic clock, and up to 16 GB of GDDR6 memory.
Intel’s Battlemage GPUs will presumably be cheaper than the competition, being that the Arc A770 (16 GB) features an MSRP of just $349, with prices falling to as low as $269.99 at some retailers.