Tag: Battlemage

Key Takeaways

1. Initial Availability and Driver Issues: The Arc B580 faced poor initial availability, primarily in the US, and driver issues caused CPU slowdowns on older systems.

2. Silicon Costs Impacting Profitability: The larger size of the BMG-G21 chip increases production costs and risks, leading to significant financial losses for Intel despite aggressive pricing.

3. Performance Limitations: Battlemage underperformed in productivity benchmarks compared to its predecessor, Alchemist A770, except in specific Unreal Engine 5 tests.

4. Market Competition and Product Timing: The future of the Arc Pro B60 is uncertain due to its delayed market entry, risking overshadowing by potential RTX 5000 series refreshes and competitive AMD pricing.

5. Need for Stronger Competition: Despite challenges, there’s hope for Intel Arc to emerge as a strong contender in the GPU market, as competition is crucial for industry health.

On the surface, the Arc B580 (and to a lesser degree, the B570) seemed like a dream come true for gamers. The drivers promised a near plug-and-play setup, the performance was superior to the outgoing RTX 4060 and Radeon RX 7600, and the increased vRAM would ensure a longer lifespan compared to those GPUs. However, reality turned out to be more complex. Initial availability was poor, primarily favoring the US market, and driver issues caused CPU slowdowns on older, budget-friendly systems. Plus, there was the significant issue of silicon costs. The BMG-G21 chip inside Battlemage measures approximately 272 mm², which is much larger than Nvidia’s AD106 or AMD’s Navi33—its main competitors from the previous generation. Once again, Intel managed to stay ahead mainly due to its aggressive pricing strategy.

Silicon and Pricing Connection

While my earlier thoughts on Arc Alchemist may have stirred some debate, there is a clear logical relationship between the silicon used in a GPU and its production costs. Bigger chips occupy more space on a wafer and have a higher risk of defects, which can lower yields or necessitate overdesign for reliability, both of which can drive up costs or reduce profit margins. Similar to Alchemist, Intel opted to sell a chip equivalent to an RTX 5070 for merely half the price, all while delivering performance akin to an RTX 5060. This approach led to significant financial losses, especially as the overall company was already facing economic challenges, including concerning trends in the laptop segment.

Battlemage’s Performance

Battlemage didn’t excel in productivity either, lagging behind the Alchemist A770 in benchmarks like Puget and Blender, with the exception of certain Unreal Engine 5 tests from Puget. Yet, there appeared to be a glimmer of hope during Computex last month, thanks to the Arc Pro B60, which boasts an impressive 24 GB of vRAM. Although many are weary of seeing LLMs integrated into every product, the demand for GPUs with over 16 GB for larger AI models remains high. The only current options are the prohibitively priced RTX 5090, the aging RTX 3090, and the 4090. If there’s a chance for Intel to market BMG-G21 chips with decent profit margins, helping Arc contribute positively to Intel’s finances and even fund the next-gen Celestial, this could be it.

Intel, however, wasn’t actually selling Arc Pro B60s; instead, they were showcasing them and promoting their inclusion in preconfigured multi-GPU “Battlematrix” systems, expected to launch later this year. The standalone card availability remains uncertain, contingent upon Intel’s timeline for enhancing Battlemage’s software. If the Pro B60 takes too long to hit the market, it risks being overshadowed by a rumored refresh of the RTX 5000 series, which may utilize 3GB memory chips to offer additional vRAM. Once having 24 GB of vRAM ceases to be a unique feature in the mid-market segment, the Pro B60 could be eclipsed by a possible RTX 5070 Ti Super, while its attractiveness for budget-conscious gamers might diminish if AMD decides to slightly reduce the price of the RX 9060 XT (currently $349.99 on Amazon), which is already quite competitive at its suggested retail price.

Future Prospects for Intel Arc

Is it still possible for Intel Arc to turn the tide? Could a rumored B770 rival the midrange offerings from GeForce and Radeon? Personally, I really hope so—having a third strong contender in the GPU market is crucial for healthy competition. However, the current state of Arc makes me cringe, just like when I penned my previous article. Similar to the GPU shortages of previous years, the local AI surge has provided Intel with an opportunity to thrive. Yet, the immature software hindered Alchemist long enough for the initial chance to be lost, forcing Intel to sell high-cost silicon in lower-priced graphics cards, ultimately starving their next generation of research and development funding.

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