A new Linux patch has potentially revealed Intel’s next plans for its Arc Battlemage graphics cards. Spotted by Tomasz Gawroński, an avid gaming hardware enthusiast on X (formerly Twitter), the new Intel gaming GPU additions could be the much anticipated more powerful variants in the company’s lineup.
The Intel B580 has been heralded as one of the best graphics cards on the budget end of PC building, but PC gaming enthusiasts are always looking for more power, and that could be coming with these cards.
While there’s hope that this leak could hint at more powerful Intel graphics cards, though, there’s nothing specific in the post that suggests they’re higher end cards. Instead, the listing simply shows three new code numbers with the patch notes saying that the patch “Add[s] 3 new IDs for BMG.” Gawroński interprets this as suggesting that “Intel added 3 new battlemage ID” in this patch.
Other replies to this post suggest these could refer to future B770, B750, or B380 GPUs, which would join the current lineup of B580 and B570 GPUs. However, this is purely speculation for now.
If Intel were to wade into the higher-end GPU conversation, it could flip the tables in the sector. The company has aggressively priced the B580 and B570 to attempt to gain traction in the budget market. If it were to do the same for mid-tier PC builds, it could sink both AMD and Nvidia’s plans as the two sit neck-and-neck for pricing with the RX 9070 and RTX 5070, at least based on rumored RX 9070 pricing.
The rumored B750 and B770 don’t need to be as powerful as the competition, if Intel is aggressive with its pricing, resulting in excellent bang-for-buck performance, it could finally see Intel carve out a decent size chunk of the graphics card market.
It’s also possible that the patch could lead to nothing. So far, Intel hasn’t confirmed anything around a B770 or B750 GPU, which would be the higher-tier cards. The company has also not said anything about a possible B380, which we would expect to be the lower-end GPU, however, graphics card hardware has appeared on shipping manifests, according to regular tech leak site, Videocardz.
These shipping manifests have shown a “clamshell card” design for two pieces of hardware. According to reports, this is a different method of bundling in memory onto the GPU, potentially signaling that Intel is readying a more powerful GPU. However, this is again speculation at this time.
Meanwhile, previous rumors – again cited by Videocardz – have suggested an Arc Battlemage “Pro” graphics card is in the works. This would come with 24GB of VRAM, but reports out of China indicate this could be aimed at data centers and the like, rather than gaming PCs.
Intel made no announcements at CES regarding new Battlemage GPUs, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see a reveal later this year. Even with the shipping manifests out in the open, it’s difficult to gauge whether Intel wants to add more to Battlemage or is actually preparing for its next generation already.
Outside of Battlemage, the third-generation GPUs from Intel, called Intel Celestial, are already in the works. Jim Johnson, the SVP of Intel’s Client Computing Group and General Manager for Client Business Group said that he was “confident” in the next-gen hardware.
While Intel is starting to make inroads in the GPU world, it’s still struggling to pull back AMD from the top of the best gaming CPU throne. With the last few generations of its CPUs not providing the performance leaps expected, or frying themselves due to issues with power draw, it’s certainly an odd time to be building a gaming PC where AMD is the recommended CPU and Intel is becoming a viable budget GPU option.