Is Intel Mimicking AMD? New Battlemage GPUs to Feature Adamantine Cache and Slightly Reduced Specifications

It seems that Intel is taking things more seriously than many expected. Their new GPUs are set to arrive in a few months, and the details continue to be more promising. This time, there are many new features, such as the new Adamantine cache and the fact that the top-of-the-range model has trimmed specifications. So, how will the new Battlemage GPUs shape up? The BMG-G10 will feature Adamantine Cache.

As mentioned, there are many new developments to discuss, mainly because, although the fog is gradually dissipating, Intel’s market launch is initially somewhat slower than expected. Primarily, this is because the top-of-the-range model, like RDNA 4, will eventually be midrange.

Intel Battlemage G10, new specifications revealed

The latest information on the high-end G10 suggests that Intel has something truly exciting up its sleeve. These earlier specifications indicated that the fastest model would have 56 Xe Cores at a frequency of around 3 GHz, include a 256-bit GDDR6 at 18 and 20 Gbps with a total capacity of 16 GB, and finally come with a new L2 cache size of between 112 MB and 116 MB.

Everything revolved around the L2 cache, which was extremely large. The most likely choice was 112 MB, providing an Xe/cache ratio of 0.5 MB. However, Intel revealed in a slide about Xe2 HPG that Battlemage would have a new-generation memory and compression subsystem, which is where the L2 cache comes in.

Today, we have the new specifications for this chip, which maintain some of the previously discussed features, while others change completely. The 56 Xe Cores remain, but the final clock speed is removed, which is quite intriguing.

In addition, the GPU moves from 256 bits to 192 bits, with GDDR6 at 20 Gbps and a capacity of 12 GB, paired with 8 MB of L2 cache. The reason for this step back is that there are 512 MB of cache waiting.

512 MB of Adamantine Cache

The L4 cache we saw for Meteor Lake, which never arrived even though it was in a patent, seems to finally be coming to Battlemage as an architecture. But what exactly is Adamantine?

The patent analysis from earlier regarding the CPU showed that this was a general, wide cache that could replace the interposer. Now we know that Adamantine is a type of cache that will function similarly to AMD’s Infinity Cache, which we discussed last week regarding its advantages in RDNA 3.

It seems that Intel could also opt for a high-speed internal interconnection system, possibly involving chiplets, with a total of 512 MB for these MCDs. The simplest option would be to divide this Adamantine Cache into 2 or 4 MCDs, assuming a GPU MCM is chosen. This would result in 256 MB or 128 MB dies, respectively, and the size would likely be slightly larger than 350 mm2.

Intel aims to achieve what AMD found: reducing VRAM access as much as possible using a high-speed, low-latency internal bus that also saves power for the graphics card (expected consumption of 225W).

The midrange Battlemage GPU has also been leaked

This GPU is much more conventional and traditional. It features 40 Xe Cores, a 192-bit bus, 18 MB of L2 cache, and a 20 Gbps GDDR6 without Adamantine Cache. There could be a 12 GB VRAM variant and a 6 GB variant with reduced performance.

The die size for the higher midrange model would be approximately 250 mm2 and would have PCIe 5.0 x8, equivalent to the current PCIe 4.0 x16, but with reduced costs as the PCB has fewer tracks.

To top it off, the Xe2 microarchitecture will move from SIMD8 to SIMD16, which, along with a higher number of ALUs, will boost the performance of the cards significantly. Ideally, there would be 64 Xe Cores, but for now, we’ll have to settle for 56.

The reason for this is simple: costs. Like AMD, Intel does not want to compete in the high-end market against NVIDIA, but in the case of AMD, their high-end MCM chip design was flawed and had to be removed to make way for an improved RDNA 5 design.

In any case, the good news is that Intel’s Battlemage will compete with current ranges in terms of performance and price, even potentially with RDNA 4. However, it won’t compare to the high-end RTX 50.

The article concludes that Intel seems to be copying AMD since the new Battlemage GPUs will have an Adamantine Cache and somewhat reduced specifications.