Saturday, July 6th 2024

Intel Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" Discrete GPUs Made on TSMC 4 nm Process

Jul 6th, 2024 07:50 Discuss (59 Comments)

Intel has reportedly chosen the TSMC 4 nm EUV foundry node for its next generation Arc Xe2 discrete GPUs based on the "Battlemage" graphics architecture. This would mark a generational upgrade from the Arc "Alchemist" family, which Intel built on the TSMC 6 nm DUV process. The TSMC N4 node offers significant increases in transistor densities, performance, and power efficiency over the N6, which is allowing Intel to nearly double the Xe cores on its largest "Battlemage" variant in numerical terms. This, coupled with increased IPC, clock speeds, and other features, should make the "Battlemage" contemporary against today's AMD RDNA 3 and NVIDIA Ada gaming GPUs. Interestingly, TSMC N4 isn't the most advanced foundry node that the Xe2 "Battlemage" is being built on. The iGPU powering Intel's Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processor is part of its Compute tile, which Intel is building on the more advanced TSMC N3 (3 nm) node.

Source: DigiTimes

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59 Comments on Intel Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" Discrete GPUs Made on TSMC 4 nm Process

Jomale

If you can´t FAB it, buy it from elsewhere: INTel

Daven

So all Intel’s next gen consumer CPUs and GPUs are made at TSMC? I guess that’s one way to fight the competition: take away fab capacity.

I guess that forces other companies to consider IFS’s inferior nodes. Intel gets to control third party production and limit their performance. And make money off the whole deal as well.

Intel is on fire right now with these strategies.

marios15

Not even intel trusts their own fabs, yet some people here want us to think things are going well.

Carillon

Intel finally found some humility and admitted that their fabs can't compete on the bleeding edge. That's the one good thing they in the last decade, why are you being so negative.

Borc

DavenSo all Intel’s next gen consumer CPUs and GPUs are made at TSMC? I guess that’s one way to fight the competition: take away fab capacity.

I guess that forces other companies to consider IFS’s inferior nodes. Intel gets to control third party production and limit their performance. And make money off the whole deal as well.

Intel is on fire right now with these strategies.

ARL-S 6+8 is made on Intel 20A, ARL-U is made on Intel 3 and PTL-H will be made on Intel 18A.

FoulOnWhite

JomaleIf you can´t FAB it, buy it from elsewhere: INTel

If you can´t FAB it, buy it from elsewhere: AMD

bonehead123

Well, Intel may have made some strides forward with their own fabs, however, the simple truth is, and has been for quite some time now, is that TSMC is DA BOMB in chip fabbing, no if's, and's, or butts... otherwise why would everybody fight like crazy for their stuff, placing orders & signing contracts for capacity years in advance.....

john_

It seems that at Intel they are really angry that people consider them incompetent the last few years, so they are jumping at the best TSMC nodes to prove that they are still building superior designs than the competition (AMD, ARM).
AMD should be careful to not end up third even before Intel starts fixing it's manufacturing problems. Lunar Lake, Battlemage, AMD could be in trouble in a year from now in laptops and GPUs.
And considering that mobile CPUs and GPUs are the ingredients for a console APU, I wonder if Intel is trying to build the hardware foundations here to go after SONY's and MS's next consoles. And while SONY might be a difficult target, MS is in bed with Intel for decades and it needs to differentiate itself from SONY to even have a chance with it's next console. When hardware is similar, like both using AMD's APUs, SONY wins easily.

usiname

I though that Battlemage is on TSMC 3nm, well 3070-3070TI performance incoming for the top B770 or whaterver is called

#10

Chaitanya

JomaleIf you can´t FAB it, buy it from elsewhere: INTel

All the while begging for handouts at the expense of tax payer.

#11

FoulOnWhite

ChaitanyaAll the while begging for handouts at the expense of tax payer.

Not all handouts. Also the FABS they are building in the US will also benefit the US economy. There some US companies that will use their FABS instead of using china etc. Or would you rather Intel takes money from the US gov and gives nothing back? What does AMD give back? do they have FABS for US companies to make use of? Intels FABS might not be running perfectly now, but it won't always be that way, and like I have said before, at least they are not totally FABless like AMD are, which could bite them on the bum at some point.

#12

Totally

FoulOnWhiteIf you can´t FAB it, buy it from elsewhere: AMD

AMD never took jabs at Intel for going to a third party fab while tooting their horn about how great their own fabs were. oh wait, that's an Intel thing.

#13

Lew Zealand

FoulOnWhiteNot all handouts. Also the FABS they are building in the US will also benefit the US economy. There some US companies that will use their FABS instead of using china etc. Or would you rather Intel takes money from the US gov and gives nothing back? What does AMD give back? do they have FABS for US companies to make use of? Intels FABS might not be running perfectly now, but it won't always be that way, and like I have said before, at least they are not totally FABless like AMD are, which could bite them on the bum at some point.

Some people can support what Intel is doing without playing whataboutism with AMD. But you brought it up, so: What is AMD taking from the US gov compared to Intel that you need to call them out about "giving back?"

I see Intel getting about $20 Billion in recent subsidies and loans from the US gov and AMD getting... very little? AMD doesn't need to give back anything when they take nothing.

But Intel does, we'll see what they can do... eventually.

#14

FoulOnWhite

Lew ZealandSome people can support what Intel is doing without playing whataboutism with AMD. But you brought it up, so: What is AMD taking from the US gov compared to Intel that you need to call them out about "giving back?"

I see Intel getting about $20 Billion in recent subsidies and loans from the US gov and AMD getting... very little? AMD doesn't need to give back anything when they take nothing.

But Intel does, we'll see what they can do... eventually.

Intel is getting money to help build the FAB that will benefit the economy and other companies. You think the GOV give them money purely for the benefit of Intel? If you do, you are smoking something.

Basically, as far as you lot are concered, Intel-BAD, AMD-sparkly rainbows, puppies and fairies. I get it with TPU's AMD club, have for a long time.

#15

Steevo

Where dem bois at that always be claiming Intel nodes are soooo much more advanced……

Intel is increasing the price of GPUs and silicon for us all. They have managed to find a way to stay competitive, by interrupting the supply chain of their competitors…. It’s genuinely genius.

#16

phints

Wow, all this talk from Intel about new lithography 4, 20A, 18A, etc. was all BS to fool investors, now they are going full TSMC like everyone else?

#17

SL2

FoulOnWhiteWhat does AMD give back?

Give back for what?

FoulOnWhiteIntels FABS might not be running perfectly now, but it won't always be that way, and like I have said before, at least they are not totally FABless like AMD are, which could bite them on the bum at some point.

Nice twist. Intel has been bitten a LOT the last 10 years because their own manufacturing. AMD has been even worse, but not for this reason.

#18

Daven

john_It seems that at Intel they are really angry that people consider them incompetent the last few years, so they are jumping at the best TSMC nodes to prove that they are still building superior designs than the competition (AMD, ARM).
AMD should be careful to not end up third even before Intel starts fixing it's manufacturing problems. Lunar Lake, Battlemage, AMD could be in trouble in a year from now in laptops and GPUs.
And considering that mobile CPUs and GPUs are the ingredients for a console APU, I wonder if Intel is trying to build the hardware foundations here to go after SONY's and MS's next consoles. And while SONY might be a difficult target, MS is in bed with Intel for decades and it needs to differentiate itself from SONY to even have a chance with it's next console. When hardware is similar, like both using AMD's APUs, SONY wins easily.

Intel has always had CPUs and needs GPUs for data center not consoles. Microsoft is in bed with Qualcomm. No one wants Intel.

FoulOnWhiteNot all handouts. Also the FABS they are building in the US will also benefit the US economy. There some US companies that will use their FABS instead of using china etc. Or would you rather Intel takes money from the US gov and gives nothing back? What does AMD give back? do they have FABS for US companies to make use of? Intels FABS might not be running perfectly now, but it won't always be that way, and like I have said before, at least they are not totally FABless like AMD are, which could bite them on the bum at some point.

The US economy needs Intel’s fabs. It does not need Intel.

FoulOnWhiteIntel is getting money to help build the FAB that will benefit the economy and other companies. You think the GOV give them money purely for the benefit of Intel? If you do, you are smoking something.

Basically, as far as you lot are concered, Intel-BAD, AMD-sparkly rainbows, puppies and fairies. I get it with TPU's AMD club, have for a long time.

Giving Intel money allows them to make more Intel products. It purely benefits Intel as no third party wants to use Intel fabs while Intel owns them.

#19

DAPUNISHER

I am eager to see Gandalf/Battlemage cards in action. ARC issues fixed. Better ray tracing and hardware upscaling. New features like noise suppression and capture hotkey? Frame generation?

#20

rluker5

Great news.
It looks like performance will increase significantly in addition to Intel removing a lot of architectural bottlenecks.
I didn't know that Arc was still on some rebranded DUV. Hopefully Arc gets a jump in frequency and efficiency like Nvidia did in going from Ampere to Ada.

TotallyAMD never took jabs at Intel for going to a third party fab while tooting their horn about how great their own fabs were. oh wait, that's an Intel thing.

That's because back then AMD was Intel's fab and was reverse engineering Intel's chips.

#21

londiste

Lew ZealandSome people can support what Intel is doing without playing whataboutism with AMD. But you brought it up, so: What is AMD taking from the US gov compared to Intel that you need to call them out about "giving back?"
I see Intel getting about $20 Billion in recent subsidies and loans from the US gov and AMD getting... very little? AMD doesn't need to give back anything when they take nothing.

Last I remember TSMC gets $6.6B. AMD does not manufacture anything - which is what the subsidies are for - and benefits from TSMC getting the same subsidy...

#22

Eternit

So Intel is able to deliver 5 nodes in four years... but all these nodes are useless.

#23

Lew Zealand

FoulOnWhiteIntel is getting money to help build the FAB that will benefit the economy and other companies. You think the GOV give them money purely for the benefit of Intel? If you do, you are smoking something.

Basically, as far as you lot are concered, Intel-BAD, AMD-sparkly rainbows, puppies and fairies. I get it with TPU's AMD club, have for a long time.

LOL, you asked about what AMD gives back and I was wondering why they had to give anything back. As they had taken nothing. But instead you doubled down on wrong assumptions, strawmen and did some company meatshielding. How about having a real conversation about the topic?

#24

kondamin

I doubt that is a recent decision, going n3b would be far to costly for a developing product line
I hope they drop alongside arrowlake and that they fixed the power issue

#25

Onyx Turbine

There are a lot of gaps (weaknesses) provided by AMD and NVIDIA they can easily rack some points with such as not being too stingy with VRAM,
have good stability and low idle and low power usage when watching video, power for games can be ok.
As such i would consider such a gpu especially as there are synergies with the upcoming intel cpu line

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Intel Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" Discrete GPUs Made on TSMC 4 nm Process

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