It looks as though a new Intel GPU originally thought to be canceled is going to be released after all. Rumored to be beleaguered by various issues, a keen eye has spotted graphics cards based on the Intel Battlemage G31 GPU apparently being shipped from Malaysia. However, there’s a little more to this story than first meets the eye.
Battlemage, Intel’s latest graphics card line, has just been officially announced ahead of its December launch, when the Intel Arc B580 is due for release. However, the company has only launched what are considered to be the mid-range cards. While we wait to see if they make it onto the best graphics cards list, it appears that a weaker Intel GPU could still be on the way.
The shipping manifest lists four entries containing G31-based cards, dated October 29. According to an eagle-eyed post on X (formerly Twitter) by Tomasz Gawroński, the screenshotted shipping info refers to a “non R&D” shipment, indicating that Intel is pushing ahead with what could be a B300 series.
Currently, Intel’s codenames span from G10 to G31, with G10 being the highest-end card and G31 the weakest. Battlemage is currently made up of only G21 cards, B580 and B570.
However, digging into Gawroński’s activity on X shows that he has brought up this shipping information multiple times in the past. One user, miktdt, who spotted the G21 cards getting work done via an update on GitHub, has said that it is “too early for G31” as there’s “no activity on [GitHub].”
The A380 and below GPUs weren’t exactly powerhouses, even in the entry-level space. However, a lot of self-hosting Plex and Jellyfin users have found them useful enough for transcoding video. Their gaming prowess is poor, though, with the Arc A380 even beaten by the GeForce GTX 1650. missing out on beating much older cards like the GTX 1650.
Meanwhile, Battlemage’s G10 variant has also been spotted in a shipping manifest in 2024. However, Intel isn’t expected to launch the card any time soon, even with CES 2025 on the way. The G10 has been spotted in previous shipping manifests, but the company has been tight-lipped about it since rumors of its cancelation circled.
Intel’s business faces multiple challenges right now. Once the maker of the best gaming CPU to get, it appears that Intel’s lunch has been eaten by AMD in multiple cases. To see how Intel and AMD’s latest chips stack up, check out our Core Ultra 265K review, as well as our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, where we benchmark both chips in a number of games.