Intel appears ready to unveil its most ambitious discrete GPU yet. Recent mid-January 2026 leaks suggest the company will debut the Arc Pro B70, a next-generation Xe2-HPG “Battlemage” GPU built not for gamers, but for professional workstations and AI inference.
The headline feature is impossible to miss: 32GB of GDDR6 VRAM, a capacity that immediately positions the card for data-heavy workloads rather than mainstream gaming.
🧠 Battlemage G31 and the “Big Core” Play #
At the center of the Arc Pro B70 is the long-rumored BMG-G31 die, the largest chip in the Battlemage lineup. After months of speculation that G31 might never ship, recent appearances in Intel VTune Profiler drivers and logistics records strongly suggest the project is alive and nearing launch.
Intel’s strategy is deliberate:
- Professional-first launch: By introducing G31 as a Pro product, Intel avoids the brutally price-sensitive gaming segment and instead targets workstation buyers with higher margins.
- Memory over marketing: A 32GB configuration strongly implies a full 256-bit memory interface populated with high-density GDDR6 modules—exactly what AI inference, 3D simulation, and 8K video pipelines demand.
For many professional workloads, VRAM capacity is not a luxury; it is a minimum requirement.
📊 Arc Pro B70 vs. Arc B770 (Expected Consumer Variant) #
Leaks indicate that a consumer-oriented version, tentatively called Arc B770, may still arrive later with reduced memory capacity. Both cards are expected to share the same underlying G31 silicon.
| Feature | Arc Pro B70 (Workstation) | Arc B770 (Gaming, Rumored) |
|---|---|---|
| GPU Die | BMG-G31 (Xe2-HPG) | BMG-G31 (Xe2-HPG) |
| Xe Cores | 32 (4096 shaders) | 32 (4096 shaders) |
| VRAM | 32GB GDDR6 | 16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Target TDP | ~250–300W | ~225–250W |
| Launch Window | Late Q1 2026 | Mid-2026 (expected) |
While compute resources appear identical, memory capacity alone sharply differentiates the two products.
⏳ Why the Gaming Card Comes Later #
The delayed arrival of the Arc B770 is not accidental. Throughout 2025, reports repeatedly suggested the G31 gaming SKU came close to cancellation. Several practical issues explain Intel’s caution:
- Economics: Large dies are expensive. Professional buyers can justify higher prices for 32GB VRAM; gamers often cannot.
- Thermals and power: With TDP figures rumored near 300W, a gaming variant would require premium cooling, undermining Intel’s value-focused Arc reputation.
- Driver maturity: A Pro launch allows Intel to harden Xe2 drivers under controlled workstation workloads before exposing them to the chaos of PC gaming.
🤖 AI Inference Is the Real Target #
The Arc Pro B70 is shaping up as a pragmatic AI accelerator rather than a halo gaming card. With 32GB of VRAM, it can host local models that overflow 16GB GPUs, including many modern LLMs used for inference and fine-tuning.
Powered by Intel’s XMX AI engines, early estimates suggest ~197–230 TOPS (INT8), positioning the B70 as a lower-cost alternative to flagship GPUs like NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 for specific inference scenarios.
For researchers, developers, and small AI teams, memory capacity—not raw raster performance—is the deciding factor. On that front, the Arc Pro B70 looks purpose-built.
If these leaks hold, Intel’s “Big Battlemage” may not win frame-rate charts—but it could quietly become one of the most interesting AI workstation GPUs of 2026.