Intel starts development on its third-generation Celestial GPUs while we continue to await the second-generation Battlemage discrete graphics cards.
Work is being done to incorporate support for Celestial integrated graphics in Linux.
Intel is already working on the compatibility of its Xe3 GPU architecture on Linux, despite the fact that this model, known as Celestial, will not be used in any chip until at least the end of 2025. Currently, the second generation of Arc graphics, called Battlemage, is just starting to hit the market, being integrated into laptops with the Lunar Lake architecture.
According to recent reports, Intel engineers are laying the groundwork to enable Xe3 in the Linux kernel. For now, not many details have been revealed about how Xe3 might improve over its predecessor, as this model will initially be used as integrated graphics in the upcoming Panther Lake processors, which will succeed Lunar Lake for laptops. Although the Linux driver code may provide some hints in the future, at the moment it is only based on the existing Xe2 code, focusing on the low power mode (LPM) of Xe3.
As for discrete graphics cards based on Celestial, the possibility seems distant. Currently, the discrete GPUs from Battlemage have not yet been released; only integrated graphics have been implemented in the mobile chips of Lunar Lake. It may still take some time before we see Battlemage graphics cards for desktops, although there is hope that they could arrive in early 2025.
In the meantime, Intel continues to advance the power of its integrated graphics, especially with the Lunar Lake models, and with mobile Arrow Lake processors also on the horizon showing good performance.
