Reports of Intel abandoning the discrete GPU segment are slowly fading away as more solid proofs of its next-gen Arc Celestial "Xe3" & higher-end Battlemage "G31" chips have appeared online.
Intel's Reaffirmation of Xe3 & Xe4 GPU Development Followed With First Reveals of Arc Celestial "Xe3" & Battlemage "G31" Discrete GPUs
Intel recently unveiled its next-generation Battlemage B-Series lineup featuring the Arc B580 & Arc B570 graphics cards. These graphics cards aim at the mainstream segment in the sub-$250 US pricing range and will compete against existing and upcoming solutions from AMD & NVIDIA.
Intel is targeting the gaming masses with its Arc Battlemage lineup first, which is also something that AMD is going to follow with its upcoming RDNA 4 "Radeon RX 8000" lineup, but it looks like Intel might have a bit of surprise in the bag.
Huge battlemage G31 non R&D shipment from malaysia🤔 pic.twitter.com/mjUkR4WqS1
— Tomasz Gawroński (@GawroskiT) December 3, 2024
In the latest developments spotted within the shipping manifestos at NBD.ltd, the Intel BMG-G31 SoC has been spotted once again, which means that there are still chances a higher-end B-Series graphics card will be offered in the coming months.
The Arc B580 & B570 GPUs feature BMG-G21 SoCs and the G31 SoC is said to utilize a higher number of Xe2 cores and be integrated into SKUs such as the B770. Intel's Tom Petersen did hint at a more powerful Arc B-series graphics card for later so this chip may be used in those discrete products.
Intel's Tom 'TAP' Petersen hinted on The Full Nerd live show that a more powerful Arc B-series dGPU will release later (G31) <- Not his exact words
Team is already working on Xe3 architecture
Graphics driver team has completely restructured how DX9 an DX11 works on Arc
— Haze (@Haze2K1) December 3, 2024
Moving over to Intel's Celestial or Xe3 discrete products, the shipping outlet is listing several "Panther Falls" discrete GPUs, which is an internal codename used for Celestial SKUs. All listed SKUs belong to the Arc lineup and there are plenty as spotted by @Haze2K1. Intel has already confirmed that the work on Celestial is complete, and the engineers are now speeding towards the development of Druid "Xe4" offerings.
Since Intel Arc B-Series GPU will be officially revealed tomorrow https://t.co/NMuYuvRwKE just know that C-Series discrete graphics cards are in development as well! #IntelArc
Alchemist = Niagara Falls
Battlemage = Churchill Falls
Celestial = Panther Falls
Frd or "Fred" = Arc pic.twitter.com/TMIC9v2MmA— Haze (@Haze2K1) December 3, 2024
@GawroskiT Here you go 👑🪽 pic.twitter.com/sy5iC1X2w1
— Haze (@Haze2K1) December 3, 2024
The listing includes various QS or Qualification Samples with parts including PCBs and full boards. Another Intel Arc Celestial discrete GPU has been spotted by Tomasz Gawronski, which seems to be a 128 EU or 16 Xe3 model. We know that Intel's Panther Lake CPUs will feature Arc Xe3 GPUs with up to 12 Xe3 cores, so this might be an entry-level discrete option.
I think all of these developments are enough to end the recent rumors of Arc being canceled. The company has just launched its 2nd Gen Arc products and is confirming the development of next & next-next-gen lineups while also teasing potential higher-end launches within the Battlemage GPU family. We can expect further updates from Intel on its discrete GPU plans at CES 2025, while GPUs such as the B580 and B570 should cement the blue team as a strong contender in the mainstream segment.
Intel ARC Gaming GPU Lineup
| GPU Family | Intel Xe Next Next | Intel Xe Next | Intel Xe3P | Intel Xe3 | Intel Xe2 | Intel Xe+ | Intel Xe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dGPU Products | ARC E*** GPUs | ARC Druid GPUs | Arc Celestial GPUs? | ARC Battlemage GPUs | ARC Battlemage GPUs | N/A | ARC Alchemist GPUs |
| iGPU Products | TBA | TBA | Arc C-Series? | Arc B-Series | Arc 200-Series | Arc 100-Series | Arc Graphics |
| dGPU Segment | Mainstream / High-End Gaming (Discrete) | Mainstream / High-End Gaming (Discrete) | TBC | N/A | Mainstream (Discrete) | N/A | Mainstream (Discrete) |
| CPU iGPU | TBA | TBA | Xe3P-LPG (Nova Lake) | Xe3-LPG (Panther Lake) | Xe2-LPG (Lunar Lake) | Xe-LPG+ (Arrow Lake) | Xe-LPG (Meteor Lake) |
| Process Node | TBA | TBA | TSMC 2nm? | TSMC 3nm / Intel 3 | TSMC 5nm (3nm Lunar Lake Tile) | TSMC 6nm | TSMC 6nm |
| Max Xe Cores | TBA | TBA | TBA | 12 | 32? | 8 | 32 |
| Memory Subsystem | TBA | TBA | G7/LP5X/LP6? | LP5X | G6/LP5X | G6/LP5X | G6/LP5 |
| Launch | 2028? | 2027? | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2024 | 2022 |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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