News Intel GPUs - Battlemage officially announced, evidently not cancelled

[Heartbreaker]

Gaming GPUs don't have any strategic value anymore for Intel. You could have made the case for using them as a fab filler, but those days are gone.

Competitive SoC GPUs have existential strategic value for Intel.

If Intel gives up on Discrete GPUs, they won't have competitive SoC GPUs.

Discrete GPUs are crucible they need to improve their SoC GPUs.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I am just curious about the GDDR memory Intel will be using. If Battlemage shows up with GDDR7, that would be a huge boost in performance out of the gate. I know the rumors say Battlemage will use GDDR6. Hynix and Micron are the two big GDDR7 suppliers. The efficiency (power) gains alone may be worth the price of admission.

 

[DavidC1]

Competitive SoC GPUs have existential strategic value for Intel.

If Intel gives up on Discrete GPUs, they won't have competitive SoC GPUs.

Discrete GPUs are crucible they need to improve their SoC GPUs.

Exactly.

They claimed improved drivers for YEARS, but they really improved on the first generation of dGPU. People claimed it wouldn't make a difference, yet it did. And the hardware improvement that chips like Battlemage gets will improve iGPUs as well.

Thinking that it would improve in one generation has always been a fantasy, nothing else.

I am just curious about the GDDR memory Intel will be using. If Battlemage shows up with GDDR7, that would be a huge boost in performance out of the gate.

It's highly unlikely when it looks like they'll be playing in the <$300 segment again. GDDR6 at 20GBps is enough as it'll also have greatly improved occlusion capabilities and other features to actually take advantage of bandwidth.

A770's 512GB/s bandwidth is effectively 250-300GB/s due to architectural flaws.

 

[jpiniero]

If Intel gives up on Discrete GPUs, they won't have competitive SoC GPUs.

Which is fine. Even better than fine if it gets them to stop using literally the most expensive node there is for the IGP die.

Especially at a time when the only thing OEMs care about is AI.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Which is fine. Even better than fine if it gets them to stop using literally the most expensive node there is for the IGP die.

Especially at a time when the only thing OEMs care about is AI.

Most of the PC business is Laptops = SoC. So it's not fine to let them slide.

 

[DavidC1]

Which is fine. Even better than fine if it gets them to stop using literally the most expensive node there is for the IGP die.

Especially at a time when the only thing OEMs care about is AI.

You do realize what you said here makes no sense right?

 

[jpiniero]

Most of the PC business is Laptops = SoC. So it's not fine to let them slide.

Which doesn't care about gaming performance obviously.

 

[Tup3x]

Which doesn't care about gaming performance obviously.

So, suddenly by making their GPU worse they would start selling more? Yeah, not going to happen. If anything that will just accelerate Intel's demise.

 

[jpiniero]

So, suddenly by making their GPU worse they would start selling more?

Like for instance I'd say AMD spending too much silicon on the IGP might be part of their problems, given that it increases costs.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Actions to Accelerate our Progress

A message from Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to employees regarding the next phase of the company’s transformation plan.

www.intel.com

• Simplifying Our Portfolio: We will complete actions this month to simplify our businesses. Each business unit is conducting a portfolio review and identifying underperforming products. We are also integrating key software assets into our business units so we accelerate our shift to systems-based solutions. And we will narrow our incubation focus on fewer, more impactful projects.

I hope the ARC dGPUs make the mark, even if just barely!

I just hate how ominous their wording sounds.

 

[RnR_au]

Actions to Accelerate our Progress

A message from Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to employees regarding the next phase of the company’s transformation plan.

www.intel.com

I hope the ARC dGPUs make the mark, even if just barely!

Maybe Intel don't think the margins are enough for them to worry about at this point. I kinda thought Arc was about denying AMD their easy design wins in this segment.

 

[Mopetar]

Which doesn't care about gaming performance obviously.

There are still a lot of laptops that sell with a discrete GPU because some people are going to game on the laptop or don't have a desktop.

Intel doesn't need to have something to compete at every performance tier, but having options that compete against the low and middle range GeForce and Radeon options is still important.

Improving their GPU technology and software also makes their APUs more appealing for the crowd that just wants something like DotA or Rocket League to run well at 1080p.

 

[jpiniero]

There are still a lot of laptops that sell with a discrete GPU because some people are going to game on the laptop or don't have a desktop.

And they will put an nVidia GPU in it.

At this point, AMD has been basically been wiped out of laptop GPUs... Intel has no hope.

 

[CakeMonster]

I'm rooting for Intel in DGPU gaming, APU, and AI, because the market desperately needs another player that has some economic and institutional backing, and foundry capacity (though ironically little used for Arc) that AMD can't or won't make happen.

However, if they ditch GPU's now, I'm pretty much done with Intel. The US govt will probably keep Intel alive for the foundries, and promising to keep churning out CPU's, just in case China does a Putin, but consumers have absolutely no use for an Intel with such short term MBA thinking.

(I desperately hope this won't be the case of course)

 

[DavidC1]

Like for instance I'd say AMD spending too much silicon on the IGP might be part of their problems, given that it increases costs.

Again, you are misleading yourself.

The only too much silicon that's useless is the NPU, which if you want a semblance of usability you'll be using the ones in the cloud.

The fact that they are willing to spend that much die on an NPU should tell you absolute costs of a larger die isn't as large as you imagine. It sure matters for MBAs chasing 0.1% margins, but nothing significant.

@CakeMonster If the current war situation gets a lot worse, computers are the last thing people will have on their minds.

Also an immediate 40-50% collapse in revenue will threaten AMD's ability to survive, nevermind Intel.

 

[jpiniero]

The fact that they are willing to spend that much die on an NPU should tell you absolute costs of a larger die isn't as large as you imagine.

It is a huge cost. But OEMs want it because of AI hype.

 

[Hans Gruber]

Actions to Accelerate our Progress

A message from Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to employees regarding the next phase of the company’s transformation plan.

www.intel.com

I hope the ARC dGPUs make the mark, even if just barely!

I just hate how ominous their wording sounds.

Just remember Intel sells the most GPU's of any manufacturer. That is because of integrated graphics from Intel that has been crap for decades. With the advent of their discrete GPU business, the integrated graphics now have real graphics card capabilities not to mention full graphics cards for laptops when the products mature.

Big picture people. Now back to the discrete desktop GPU's. N4 silicon (Battlemage) which will greatly increase efficiency over N6 on ARC cards. That's like a two generation jump in silicon. If Intel fixed their architecture/hardware problems with Battlemage, it could be an interesting generation of graphics cards.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Intel says Raptor Lake microcode update will not affect overclocking and performance, new Arrow Lake/Battlemage updates - VideoCardz.com

Intel makes several claims at ASUS event in China Updates for Raptor Lake, Arrow Lake and Battlemage. Source: 小敌鸽/Weibo “小敌鸽” aka Little Pigeon is a Chinese tech blogger who has shared some first-hand information in the past. This person was invited to Intel x ASUS event (said to be an internal...

videocardz.com

Battlemage lives! At least if Intel doesn't backtrack from this presentation.

 

[jpiniero]

Just remember Intel sells the most GPU's of any manufacturer. That is because of integrated graphics from Intel that has been crap for decades.

Intel's IGP have been for the most part completely fine in just about everything but gaming.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Intel's IGP have been for the most part completely fine in just about everything but gaming.

You mean fine for running word processing and web browsers? Even people that don't want dGPUs still might do light gaming.

A lot more of the lower end GPU market might go to SoC/APU when that Intel could get shut out if their iGPU is garbage. They need competitive GPU, or they risk losing the PC cash cow.

It gets worse if Win-ARM takes off and the flood gates open. Then they won't have only one competitor. Eventually Intel will likely be forced to build ARM SoCs for Windows, and then the differentiation may switch to something other than the CPU part, so again, the iGPU part becomes a key differentiator, and if Intels is garbage, they are shut out.

Good GPU tech has existential strategic value for Intel.

 

[DavidC1]

It gets worse if Win-ARM takes off and the flood gates open. Then they won't have only one competitor. Eventually Intel will likely be forced to build ARM SoCs for Windows,

This is false. It isn't the ARM ISA that's inherently superior, it's that all the good management and people are in that camp.

If Intel started developing ARM chips, they would suck as much as their x86 ones do(or conversely be good as their x86 chips)

 

[Hans Gruber]

Intel's IGP have been for the most part completely fine in just about everything but gaming.

Which is why the gaming GPU segment benefits Intel in both laptops and desktops. Their igpu's become more like a APU.

 

[QueBert]

Intel's IGP have been for the most part completely fine in just about everything but gaming.

While nothing mind blowing, Intel's newer IGPs are worlds better than the older ones. My previous systen was a 6th or 7th gen i5, I remember it struggled with even older games. I got a 12500k in 2023, and I was surprised that some semi newer games were playable. Lower resolution and effects were turned down, but they were playable. Unless it was old old I couldn't play anything on my 6th gen. I know a lot of people will disagree and say the 12th gen IGP are trash and unsuitable for gaming. While 60FPS+ is great, personally I can play games at 35-45FPS and not feel like I'm dying inside. Of course I would love more frames and eye candy turned way up, but I manage with my IGP for the time being. Now of course I'm not playing the latest AAA powerhouse, but I have played a lot of games that relative to when the CPU was released that my 6th gen would not have played at all.

For people who aren't critical about shit like 120hz and 4k, Intel has reached a point where their IGP's can be used for more than just Word, Excel & Youtube.

 

[gaav87]

Hi guys enjoy:

https://intel-gfx-ci.01.org/tree/intel-xe/xe-pw-136821v1/shard-bmg-3/boot0.txt

BMG 12GB 19GB/s 456GB/s bandwidth 192-bit bus width
Actual physical size: 0x0000000300000000 =(12 GB)
[drm:xe2_hpd_get_bw_info.isra.0.constprop.0 [xe]] QGV 1: deratedbw=53000 peakbw: 456000
<7>[ 5.433883] xe 0000:03:00.0: [drm:icl_get_qgv_points.constprop.0 [xe]] QGV 1: DCLK=19000 tRP=0 tRDPRE=0 tRAS=0 tRCD=0 tRC=0

 

[igor_kavinski]

BMG 12GB 19GB/s 456GB/s bandwidth 192-bit bus width

Good. I thought gimping the A750 with 8GB instead of 12GB minimum and having an 8GB A770 were poor decisions. Good that we see progress here.