Intel prepping at least five new Battlemage GPU models — new PCI IDs added to Linux 6.11 kernel

Five PCI IDs have been added to the set of updates arriving in the next Linux 6.11 kernel. Phoronix reports that these five PCI IDs are confirmed to be five Battlemage GPUs, further proving that Battlemage discrete gaming desktop cards are just around the corner.

The five Battlemage device IDs are 0xE202, 0xE20B, 0xE20C, 0xE20D, and 0xE212. It's impossible to tell what specific GPU models these IDs refer to, but Phoronix makes a good point that some of these IDs could be reserved for engineering models or unplanned variants. However, there is still a good chance that some of these IDs could potentially be unannounced Battlemage discrete GPUs waiting to be launched.

One interesting tidbit is that only five PCI IDs have been listed so far. Before Arc Alchemist launched, we saw as many as 32 PCI IDs reserved for Intel's Arc A-series GPUs. The vast reduction in PCI ID numbers for Battlemage is a potential sign that Intel will be heavily reducing the number of discrete Battlemage GPU models it plans on releasing, including gaming, mobile, and workstation variants.

These five device IDs will be integrated into the Xe kernel graphics driver with the next update cycle for Linux 6.11. Right now, Battlemage support in Linux is very much in its infancy, with the Linux Intel Xe driver being tuned to disabled hardware-accelerated 3D graphics by default when a Battlemage GPU is being used. Obviously, this will change once driver maturity evolves and Battlemage is ready for public use.

Intel could add more PCI IDs in the future, but it is interesting that Intel added so few IDs for this initial batch. From a business perspective, this isn't a bad idea. If Intel's next-generation GPU lineup sticks to the same mid-range and entry-level GPU markets as Arc Alchemist, the semiconductor manufacturing giant won't need many SKUs to serve both markets. If Intel duplicates what Nvidia does, it could leave its older entry-level market to Arc A-series GPUs to fend off the entry-level market while Battlemage focuses on competing in the mid-range sector.

We'll know if this is the case soon; Battlemage should launch either at the tail end of this year or at the start of 2025. Battlemage is the successor to Intel's Arc Alchemist GPU architecture, which launched in 2022, powering Intel's first-ever discrete gaming GPUs. The architecture has been optimized from the ground up to provide better performance than Arc Alchemist, employing second-generation Xe Cores, larger XMX engines, bigger caches, enhanced vector engines, and more.

But we won't know how it performs until Intel announces Battlemage in discrete GPU form. Intel is utilizing low-power transistors for its integrated graphics variant of Battlemage, so any performance figures from Battlemage in iGPU form can't be translated to represent gaming performance in discrete GPU form.