Intel’s next-gen Arc B580 spotted, supporting rumors of a December launch for Battlemage GPUs
- A leak suggests that the box for the Arc B580 is being prepared
- This is in addition to rumors that Intel will launch Battlemage next month
- We can hope for a true budget 1080p champion in those 2nd generation Arc GPUs
Rumors surrounding Intel’s next-gen Battlemage desktop GPUs are increasing, with the latest being a sighting of the Arc B580 graphics card – or at least a hint that packaging is being readied.
Tom’s hardware noticed the appearance of a shipping manifest, presented in a message on
Obviously, you have to take this with some spice – and the leaker in question isn’t one we’ve heard of before – but the packaging for the next generation of Arc graphics cards that have been ready (since September, apparently) matches the recent rumor mill spin-off.
That includes speculation from a few days ago that indicated there was a leak teaserwhich shows that Intel has a Battlemage announcement for December, which follows a rumor from earlier this month that suggested the exact same thing.
So, at least in theory, the unveiling of these new 2nd generation Arc GPUs is almost upon us.
Analysis: Battle at the bottom of the GPU market
An upcoming reveal makes sense if Intel wants to move forward with its Battlemage GPU launch, as both AMD and Nvidia are currently reportedly about to unveil their respective next-generation graphics cards – RDNA 4 and Blackwell – at CES 2025 .
Previous rumors had suggested that Battlemage would launch in early 2025, but perhaps Intel fears its 2nd generation Arc graphics cards could get lost in the hype battle between RDNA 4 and RTX 5000 GPUs if it waits that long – drowned out by the noise that is made around it. rival GPUs, even if they are not direct rivals to Intel – so Team Blue has stepped up its plans.
Keep in mind that we might not get a Battlemage announcement until December, and the boards themselves might not go on sale until later (in fact, that’s probably the case).
It’s interesting to see the Arc B580 specifically mentioned, because the gist of what we’ve heard about the performance of Battlemage GPUs is that they’ll all be aimed at the lower end of the market.
Rumor has it that the top 2nd generation Arc graphics card will work with 32 (Intel would have to drop this configuration down to a lower level to make sense, in other words – just remember that there will be architectural performance improvements here too, it’s not just about the number of cores). So maybe the B580 will be the top offering with Battlemage, but this is all guesswork really.
Either way, it’ll be great to get some new budget GPUs – with really affordable price tags – as this is an area that Nvidia in particular, and AMD too, has neglected for too long. Therefore, it’s a space that Intel can hopefully enter and make a meaningful difference in the world of desktop GPUs. Fingers and toes crossed.
