Intel Arc Xe2 "BMG-G31" GPU Spotted in Shipping Manifest; "Battlemage" B770 Model's Fortunes Revived?

[erek]

“Tomasz Gawroński spent part of his Easter weekend poring over shipping documents; soon stumbling on an entry that mentioned a mysterious "IBC C32 SKT"—again, listed under "research and development" purposes. In a reply to Gawroński's social media bulletin, miktdt weighed in with a logical theory: "because of the BMG in the text the best I could believe is a reworked/restarted BMG G31. C32 could simply mean cores 32 which is a fully-enabled G31. This makes more sense to me." VideoCardz posits that these leaks do not necessarily signal the revival of fortunes for more potent Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" SKUs; Intel could be shipping "canceled project" prototypes to different locations. Going back to late summer 2023, a "BMG G10" GPU die was spotted by members of the press during a tour of Team Blue's Malaysian test lab. Back then, certain industry insiders believed that the whole "Battlemage" endeavor was going through "development hell." Fast-forward to the present day; OneRaichu reckons that there is still a likelihood of Team Blue's "B770" model turning up at some point in the future.”

source: https://www.techpowerup.com/335796/...ifest-battlemage-b770-models-fortunes-revived

 

[ChadD]

Zero chance of that happening imo.
Of course fully operational dies exist, and Intel has them for testing. Can they sell them at a price to recoup costs, in volume? Not likely. No point at this point, they supposedly have the C generation well on the way.

 

[erek]

Zero chance of that happening imo.
Of course fully operational dies exist, and Intel has them for testing. Can they sell them at a price to recoup costs, in volume? Not likely. No point at this point, they supposedly have the C generation well on the way.

“Intel to Explore Optimization of Arc GPUs When Paired with Older Generation CPUs
by T0@st Today, 12:16 Discuss (1 Comment)
VideoCardz has put a spotlight on a compelling Intel Community announcement—ten days ago, a site moderator (RonaldM_Intel) disclosed that company engineers are currently engaged in the investigation of a major Arc graphics card-related issue. At the beginning of 2025, Hardware Unboxed uploaded a video article (see below) that delved into the Arc Xe2 B580 graphics card design's "big problem." Going back several months, review outlets observed B580 sample cards leveraging lower than expected performance when paired with older generation processors. As summarized by VideoCardz's recent report; significant performance drops were tracked when test units were linked up with AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or 5600 CPUs—relative to a more modern rig; powered by Team Red's Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Additionally, evaluators observed worrying signs when B580 cards were tested on platforms based on Intel's 9th Gen Core i5-9600K processor.”

 

[erek]

Sparkle Rep Mentions Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" Graphics Card Configured with 24 GB VRAM​

by T0@st Today, 14:49 Discuss (0 Comments)
Not long after Intel's launch of the Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" B580 12 GB graphics card design, insiders started generating noise about potential spin-offs bound for release in 2025. In theory, the speculated "B580 24 GB" variant could arrive as a workstation-oriented discrete graphics solution—possibly lined up as a next-gen entry within Team Blue's Arc Pro family. Three mysterious BMG (aka "Battlemage") PCI identifiers turned up at the end of January; sending online PC hardware debates into overdrive; one faction believed that Team Blue was readying fabled productivity-focused B-series cards—complete with enlarged pools of GDDR6 VRAM. Apparently, Sparkle's Chinese branch has provided comment on newer rumors—from March, according to VideoCardz. The Taiwanese manufacturer is a key Intel board partner in the field of Arc GPU-based graphics card products—across gaming and professional desktop lines. Unfortunately, the company's head office (in Taiwan) has dismissed "official" claims about a May/June launch of an unnamed 24 GB model. Sparkle's official Chinese account engaged with members of the PC hardware community, and outlined an "original plan" to release something new within the second quarter of 2025—apparently the incoming card is "still being arranged."

 

[Lakados]

If Intel did officially kill its high-end GPU segment (which is the smart play), any test cards, prototypes, etc... would need to be recalled from the AIBs so they can be culled or repurposed. Even if they never see a public launch, they could still serve some purpose for internal testing for future hardware revisions or driver development.
But getting them all back would be an important part of inventory management and blah blah blah.

That said maybe they are going to launch it as a workstation/AI card, sometimes you just need a generic GPU with a crapton of VRAM to do the stuff, CAD, etc...