Further proof that Intel Battlemage discrete GPU development work continues in earnest was seen over the weekend. Intel hardware enthusiast@miktdtnoticed that the firm added code to oneAPI to support the upcoming Battlemage G21 GPU.
Today’s news is another nail in the coffin concerning rumors Intel may have abandoned the discrete GPU market. However, the weight of opinion is behind the firm shying away from preparing for battle in the flagship market.
The above-referenced G21 code comes from Intel’s LLVM project, which is published and updated on GitHub. In the first image, you can see one of several mentions of Intel’s “BMG_G21.” Moreover, the “Battlemage G21 Intel graphics architecture” is specifically mentioned in the oneAPI device targets list (slide 2).
Evidence from previous leaks, such as ashipping manifestthat we reported on in late March, suggests that Intel is limiting Battlemage to two discrete GPUs: the G21, and the G10. These GPUs were presumably transiting between Intel R&D labs.
The flow of recent leaks hints that the mid-to-high-end G21 will be behind the first Intel Battlemage products to launch. There are fewer mentions of G10 in shipping manifests, and it is still absent from the headlining GitHub code.
We think Intel isn’t hyping up Battlemage ahead of release for two main reasons. Firstly, it learned lessons from theAlchemistlaunch where expectations were not properly managed. Secondly, for whatever reasons its biggest GPU, the G21 is only designed to fuel mid-range mass-market style graphics cards. With this in mind, we will underline expectations that Battlemage isn’t going to go toe-to-toe with the best of theNvidia Blackwell RTX 50products, or AMD RDNA 4-basedRadeon RX 8000products. Nevertheless, we remain eager to welcome Battlemage to the market.
Intel’s plans regarding Battlemage launch timings also currently lack clarity – to those from the outside trying to look in. Reports from Embedded World signaled that the first Battlemage products may be launched in Fall. This would have them on the marketahead of the holiday season,and to achieve a solid presence for these shoppers Battlemage GPU-based products should be available in November at the latest.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom’s Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
