Intel’s 1st Gen Arc Alchemist GPUs had a troubled launch. Limited availability, buggy drivers, and sparse game support were the key themes of the Arc A-series graphics cards. Only after drastic price reductions and driver updates were the A750 and A770 able to gain moderate popularity in the DIY segment. According to industry whispers out of Embedded World 2024, Intel hopes to launch the 2nd Gen Battlemage GPUs as early as November 2024.
According to ComputerBase, Intel wishes to participate in the autumn and pre-holiday season sales starting with Black Friday on the 29th of November. This would mean an early to mid-November release for the Arc B-series Battlemage graphics cards.
While this may come as good news to some, it’s important to remember how the 1st Gen Alchemist launch went. Even a year after launch, the Arc A750/A770 is incompatible with older games or suffers from bugs (audio issues, stuttering) in several recent titles. Launching a new lineup before the existing one is properly optimized isn’t wise.
