Intel “X3” Battlemage GPU spotted in transit with 448 Execution Units

Intel’s ARC Battlemage X3 GPU has been spotted with 448 execution units – ARC A750 replacement?

At Computex 2024, Intel gave us a glimpse of their new Xe2 “Battlemage” GPU architecture. This new GPU architecture will be used to power Intel’s upcoming Lunar Lake CPUs and next-generation Battlemage Discrete Graphics Cards. Now, a Battlemage based GPU called “X3” has been spotted in transit, revealing some information about these new graphics cards.

For starters, “X3” appears to be an Intel Battlemage graphics card with 448 execution units. This is the same number of execution units of Intel’s ARC A750, Intel’s most popular 1st generation ARC GPU. This graphics card appears to feature BMG-G10 GPU silicon, and feature 16GB of memory. With 16GB of memory, it is probable that this GPU has a 256-bit memory bus.

In theory, Intel’s “X3” GPU is the company’s direct Battlemage replacement for their ARC A750. This GPU will allow users to see how much Intel’s GPU architecture has improved with Battlemage. As such, this GPU will be an interesting test case for Intel, as they need large generational performance gains to compete with Nvidia.

(Image from WCCFTECH)

What to expect from and Intel ARC Battlemage GPU

With Battlemage, Intel has worked hard to address the issues present within the first generation Alchemist series GPUs. Many tasks that were competed in software are now completed in silicon, delivering incredible performance gains for specific workloads. For example, Draw X performance has improved by a staggering 12.5x. Additionally, Intel has added new ray tracing units to their Xe2 “Battlemage” GPU architecture.

In Lunar Lake, Intel has stated that their new Xe2 GPU can deliver a 50% boost in performance over Meteor Lake’s Xe1 graphics. For desktop users, it remains to be seen how Xe2 will perform when scaled up. With Lunar Lake having the same maximum execution unit count as Meteor Lake, it is probable that we will see similar performance gains with Intel’s “X3” GPU when compared to Intel’s ARC A750. As a result, Intel has the potential to transform the mid-range GPU market with Battlemage.

With Battlemage, Intel has an opportunity to transform their position within the GPU market. Xe2 appears to be a promising GPU architecture. Undoubtedly, it contains many design improvements over Xe1. Furthermore, it appears to be more power-efficient and performant on a per-CU basis. Lastly, it will benefit from all of the driver improvements that they have developed for their original ARC GPUs. All things considered, Intel should be able to deliver a larger generational leap than either AMD or Intel. That said, they are starting from a lower point.

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