NVIDIA's freshly completed GeForce RTX 50 family, powered by the new Blackwell architecture, has begun to register meaningful numbers in Steam's June 2025 Hardware Survey. Since first appearing in May, cards from this lineup, except for the as-yet-unavailable RTX 5050, now account for 3.69% of surveyed systems. Leading the pack among the newcomers, the RTX 5070 grabs nearly 1% of overall share, up substantially from its debut, while the RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti follow closely behind. The more budget‑oriented RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 have also made their mark, and even the top‑end RTX 5090 has registered on enough machines to appear in the survey.

These figures show a swift uptake by desktop gamers eager for improved performance and AI-driven features, even as the tried-and-true RTX 4060 Laptop GPU holds onto its position as the most prevalent NVIDIA part, with just under 5% of the installed base. Meanwhile, AMD's latest Radeon RX 9000 series and Intel's Arc B‑series remain absent from the survey results, suggesting that shipment volumes for those cards have not yet reached the critical mass needed to register with Valve's monthly sampling of millions of Steam users. This demonstrates NVIDIA's continued dominance in add-in board sales, where it has consistently captured over 90% of the market.

Intel GPUs, both iGPUs and Arc, on Linux, can achieve a surprising 20% performance boost by taking direct action within their own graphics stack. The company has long incorporated security mitigations into its open-source Compute Runtime to protect against vulnerabilities like Spectre, but these safeguards have carried a hidden cost. With the introduction of a build-time option named NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS, Intel now allows users to compile the Compute Runtime without these extra checks, thereby reclaiming up to 20% in OpenCL and Level Zero workloads. Behind the scenes, Intel's engineers have been testing unmitigated builds on GitHub for months, and the results have been clear: disabling these driver-level mitigations can significantly speed up shader compilation, AI-driven upscaling routines, and physics simulations that rely on GPU compute.

Intel's confidence in disabling these checks stems from the fact that modern Linux kernels already address Spectre vulnerabilities comprehensively at the operating system level. To keep users informed, the Compute Runtime build will emit a warning if it detects a kernel lacking the necessary patches, ensuring transparency about any residual risk. Canonical's Ubuntu team has partnered with Intel to introduce this enhancement in its upcoming 25.10 release. But make no mistake, this is Intel's initiative: the company is driving the performance improvements, publishing unmitigated binaries upstream, and coordinating with distribution partners to make the change broadly available. Security teams at Intel have analyzed the potential attack surface and concluded that the performance gains far outweigh the minimal risk, especially given that Intel's own builds have been running unmitigated without incident.

Intel has quietly submitted its patches for BMG-G31 GPU SKUs in the Mesa open-source graphics driver library. With IDs e220, e221, e222, and e223, Intel is gearing up the launch of its higher-end "Battlemage" B770. In the weeks leading up to Computex 2025, Intel dropped hints and unofficial leaks about new Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" desktop graphics cards, including rumors of a high-end B770 model and placeholder mentions of a B750 on Intel Japan's website. Fans were excited, but at the Taipei Nangang show, neither card appeared. Then Tweakers.net reported, based on unnamed insiders, that the Battlemage-based Arc B770 is real and expected to launch in November 2025, though plans could still change.

With 32 Xe2 cores for the B770, Intel plans to pair 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. What is interesting is that Intel will use a PCIe 5.0 ×16 host bus, whereas the lower-end Arc B580 and Arc B570 use a PCIe 4.0 ×8 host bus. A faster PCIe standard is likely to follow as the higher-end Arc B770 yields significantly more compute bandwidth, so we will have to wait and see what Intel has prepared. If the rumored Q4 launch manifests, it will give gamers an interesting choice right around the holidays.

Intel has confirmed that its Arc A750 graphics card has reached end-of-life, as outlined in Product Change Notification #856777‑00 published yesterday. This announcement marks the beginning of the end for a model that arrived just two and a half years ago, and it offers partners a clear timetable for winding down orders and shipments. Customers should mark June 27, 2025, as their final opportunity to submit discontinuance orders for the Arc A750. After that date, no new orders will be accepted. All remaining units are slated for delivery by September 26, 2025. Intel recommends that system builders, integrators, and distributors assess their inventory and projected needs now and then place any last orders before the cutoff. Should questions arise, field sales representatives stand ready to assist. Do note that end of life here means end of manufacturing, not end of support. Intel will continue to provide driver and quality of life updates to these Arc Alchemist GPUs.

When it launched in October 2022, the Arc A750 staked its claim in the performance segment of Intel's market-entry discrete GPU lineup. Based on the DG2‑512 processor in its ACM‑G10 form, the card leveraged TSMC's 6 nm to pack 21.7 billion transistors into a 406 square millimeter die. With 3,584 shading units, 224 texture units, and 112 ROPs, it delivered strong raster throughput. Its 28 ray‑tracing cores and 448 tensor cores brought hardware‑accelerated lighting and machine-learning inference within reach of mainstream gamers and creators alike. At the board level, the A750 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, running at an effective 16 Gbps across a 256-bit bus, which yields 512 GB/s of bandwidth. A base clock of 2,050 MHz could be boosted to 2,400 MHz, while a dual-slot design drew up to 225 W via one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector. Video outputs included HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 2.0 ports, all bridged to the host system over PCI‑Express 4.0 x16.

Matrox Video is making high-performance video wall deployments more efficient with the release of the Matrox LUMA Pro A380 Octal, a professional graphics card that drives four 8K displays or up to eight 5K displays from a single slot. The new LUMA Pro A380 Octal will be presented at InfoComm 2025, taking place June 11-13 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, at booth 2821. Designed to help OEMs, system integrators, AV installers, and developers do more with less, LUMA Pro A380 Octal enables high-density display setups while reducing hardware requirements and system complexity.

With LUMA Pro A380 Octal, users can now drive more displays per system and free up PCIe slots for other essential components like capture cards, storage, or networking. Traditional multi-display setups often rely on several quad-output cards, each consuming a full slot. LUMA Pro A380 Octal offers a compact alternative that makes it easier to build systems using standard workstations.

Within the discrete graphics card sector, NVIDIA achieved a remarkable 92% share of the add-in board (AIB) GPU market in the first quarter of 2025, according to data released by Jon Peddie Research (JPR). This represents an 8.5% increase compared to NVIDIA's previous position. By contrast, AMD's share contracted to just 8%, down 7.3 points, while Intel's presence effectively disappeared, falling to 0% after losing 1.2 points. JPR reported that AIB shipments reached 9.2 million units during Q1 2025 despite desktop CPU shipments declining to 17.8 million units. The firm projects that the AIB market will face a compound annual decline of 10.3% from 2024 to 2028, although the installed base of discrete GPUs is expected to grow to 130 million units by the end of the forecast period. By 2028, an estimated 86% of desktop PCs are expected to feature a dedicated graphics card.

NVIDIA's success this quarter can be attributed to its launch of the RTX 50 series GPUs. In contrast, AMD's RDNA 4 GPUs were released significantly later in Q1. Additionally, Intel's Battlemage Arc GPUs, which were launched in Q4 2024, have struggled to gain traction, likely due to limited availability and low demand in the mainstream market. The broader PC GPU market, which includes integrated solutions, contracted by 12% from the previous quarter, with a total of 68.8 million units shipped. Desktop graphics unit sales declined by 16%, while notebook GPUs decreased by 10%. Overall, NVIDIA's total GPU share rose by 3.6 points, AMD's dipped by 1.6 points, and Intel's declined by 2.1 points. Meanwhile, data center GPUs bucked the overall downward trend, rising by 9.6% as enterprises continue to invest in artificial intelligence applications. On the CPU side, notebook processors accounted for 71% of shipments, with desktop CPUs comprising the remaining 29%.

Intel today released the latest version of its Arc GPU Graphics Drivers. Version 101.6876 Beta comes with optimization for "FBC: Firebreak," "Rematch," "Stellar Blade," and "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X." In addition, the driver fixes an issue specific to Arc B-series "Battlemage" discrete GPUs, where intermittent visual artifacts appear in certain usage scenarios. The company also identified several new issues with this release, which are listed below. Grab the drivers from the following link.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.6876 Beta

Back in January, keen trackers of internal Team Blue developments stumbled upon encouraging signs of new Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" graphics card activity. Fast-forward to Computex 2025; where Intel and involved board partners unveiled Pro-grade B60 and B50 workstation card products. In the interim, rumors of a canceled "BMG-G31" GPU-based gaming series turned up online. Leading up to last week's important trade event, Team Blue's social media accounts were actively engaging with the community—mostly answering queries regarding a speculated Arc Xe2 "B770" model. According to secretive show floor banter, higher-end B-series gaming graphics cards could be lined up for a fourth quarter launch (this year).

Freshly discovered "BMG" identifiers were highlighted by Lasse Kärkkäinen—this latest tip-off was directed at GawroskiT, Haze2K1 and x86deadandback. At various points in 2024 and 2025, these veteran industry observers have unearthed crucial "Battlemage" inside track information. Team Blue's Mesa graphics driver for Linux was updated late last week; Kärkkäinen's attention was drawn by 0xe220, 0xe221, 0xe222 to 0xe223 device codes. These IDs seemingly exist in a separate category, distinct from "BMG-21." Intel's B580 and B570 cards are based on "Battlemage" BMG-21 GPU die foundations. According to Wccftech's expert opinion: "at least two of these listings belong to Intel's recently-unveiled Battlemage 'ARC Pro' variants...The rest of the two device IDs will belong to newer models, and the one we anticipate to be unveiled is the Arc B770, since Intel 'indirectly' confirmed its release at Computex, but this will occur in the latter part of the year, presumably at Intel Innovation 2025." Inevitably, the Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" family will be succeeded by "Celestial"—recent leaks have suggested development of Xe3 reaching a pre-silicon validation phase.

ASRock had plenty of new graphics cards at the Computex 2025 show, with a few interesting pieces in its Creator Series, including the new AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 and Arc Pro B60 graphics cards. In addition, ASRock showcased the newly announced AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT graphics cards that will be available in both Challenger and Steel Legend series.

The ASRock Creator Series is an interesting one as this is aimed at "multi-GPU collaborative computing," meaning it is designed for multi-card computing. This is the reason why the ASRock Creator Series uses a blower-style dual-slot cooler design with vapor chamber heatsink. It also comes with 0dB Silent Cooling and a metal frame construction. ASRock also unveiled two new graphics cards in its Creator Series, the Radeon AI PRO R9700, based on the newly announced RDNA 4-based Radeon AI Pro R9700, which is basically a beefed up version of the Radeon RX 9070 XT, maxing out the 4 nm Navi 48 GPU with 64 compute units and 32 GB of 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory interface, and the Intel Arc Pro B60 Creator, based on Intel's recently announced Arc Pro B60 GPU. The Arc Pro B60 is based on Intel Xe2-HPG architecture with 160 Intel XMX engines and coming with 24 GB of 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit memory interface.

Acer today unveiled updates to the family of Swift thin-and-light Copilot+ PCs - the Swift Edge 14 AI and Swift Go AI Series - which are now powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra 200V Series processors with integrated Neural Processing Units (NPU). Featuring premium, portable designs, the new laptops include the technology and features needed for creativity and productivity, along with up to OLED displays to present standout color accuracy and details.

The new Swift Copilot+ PCs boast NPUs that perform over 40 TOPS and are equipped to run the most demanding AI workloads and offer exclusive AI experiences such as Recall (preview), Click to Do (preview), and improved Windows search, Cocreator, Live Captions, and Windows Studio Effects. In addition, they also feature a dedicated Copilot key to launch Copilot in Windows 11 with a single touch.

Intel today released the latest version of its Arc GPU Graphics Drivers. Version 101.6793 Beta comes with optimization for "DOOM: The Dark Ages" and "Japanese Drift Master." The drivers also fix a handful of issues. To begin with, a bug specific to the Arc B-series that causes color corruption in "The Last of Us Part I" has been fixed. Blue flickering artifacts noticed in "DOOM Eternal" with ray tracing enabled, has been fixed. Flickering black boxes seen in "The Last of Us Part II" has been fixed for Arc A-series discrete GPUs, and the iGPUs of Core Ultra Series 2 processors. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.6793 Beta

If you recall NVIDIA's GTX TITAN Z GPU with two GPU dies and an impressive 6 GB of memory, it was a big deal at the time and quite an interesting engineering solution. Today, thanks to sources close to VideoCardz, we learn that Intel's Arc "Battlemage" B580 could get the next dual GPU, dual VRAM treatment. According to the source, an unnamed Intel add-in board partner is preparing to launch a GPU with two B580 dies and 48 GB of VRAM. This means that the 24 GB VRAM version of the Arc B580 we saw in EEC filings is basically confirmed, and that some models will be out for display very soon. While the BMG-G21 chip offers up to 20 Xe cores and 2,560 shader units, a dual BMG-G21 configuration will yield 40 Xe cores and 5,120 shader units working in tandem with 48 GB of VRAM.

Clearly, this model is mostly tailored to AI enthusiasts. No game (thankfully) requires 48 GB of VRAM for now, but it is still nonetheless an interesting solution to see. It has been a while since we got something like a TITAN Z, even in high-end form factors. There is a rumored Intel Arc PRO A60/B60 card carrying a B580 die with 24 GB of VRAM, tailored for local AI workloads and professional visualization. This GPU could be the base for the newly rumored dual B580, 48 GB SKU from an unnamed Intel AIB partner. We expect to hear more details at Computex, which is now just a week away!

Maxsun's parent company has quietly registered new 24 GB versions of Intel's Arc B580 graphics card with the EEC. While regulatory filings often cover placeholder or speculative hardware, this submission lines up with ongoing rumors about a high-memory "Battlemage" model aimed at both gamers and professionals. Back in December and January, Intel launched the Arc B580 and B570 GPUs, bringing the Battlemage architecture to desktops just a few months after "Lunar Lake" appeared on laptops. Those first cards came with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, a surprisingly generous amount for graphics cards selling under $300, and they helped establish Intel as a real contender in the mainstream GPU market. Since then, chatter about a 24 GB version has never died down. The story gained weight when board partner Sparkle briefly hinted at such a variant and then retracted the comment under NDA obligations. Further fueling speculation, a Sparkle representative in China discussed the planned "B580 24 GB" during a March social-media exchange.

Now, Maxsun's EEC filing lists two models called "iCraft 24G" and "iCraft 24G OC," and those names match what Sparkle first mentioned. There's no guarantee these cards will actually hit store shelves, but the matching details and timing suggest Intel may be testing the waters for a memory-heavy Arc B580. That would make sense given recent leaks about an Arc PRO A60 workstation card also packing 24 GB of memory. Under the hood, the Arc B580's BMG-G21 chip offers up to 20 Xe cores and 2,560 shader units, putting it in the same ballpark as NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060. With Computex just days away, Intel will finally reveal whether these high-memory Arc B580 cards, or perhaps even bigger Battlemage-based workstation GPUs, are coming our way. Additionally, enthusiasts are keeping an eye on the rumored Arc B770, which is expected next quarter and likely to be detailed at Computex alongside Intel's broader Battlemage and upcoming Xe3 "Celestial" roadmap.

Intel is officially stepping back from its Deep Link suite of technologies. The confirmation came through a company representative on GitHub, confirming that active development has ceased. This follows a period when Intel quietly stopped highlighting Deep Link in newer offerings, such as its "Battlemage" GPUs. While the features might still work for those currently using Deep Link, don't expect any future updates or official assistance from Intel's support channels. If you cast your mind back to late 2020, you might recall Intel launching Deep Link. The core idea was to get Intel CPUs and their dedicated Arc GPUs working more effectively in tandem. To tap into this, you needed a specific setup: an 11th, 12th, or 13th Generation Intel CPU alongside an Arc Alchemist GPU. The package featured key tools: Dynamic Power Share for optimizing power between the CPU and GPU, Stream Assist to offload streaming to integrated graphics, Hyper Encode for faster video encoding, and Hyper Compute to accelerate AI tasks using OpenVINO.

These were designed to give a leg up to applications like OBS, DaVinci Resolve, and Handbrake. However, the writing may have been on the wall for Deep Link. Intel's "Meteor Lake" chips, which arrived in late 2023, weren't on the compatibility list, hinting that development had already wound down. Getting these features to perform reliably wasn't always straightforward, with users, like the one on GitHub who raised the initial question, reporting difficulties even with supported hardware. A user tried running Core Ultra 200S with Battlemage in OBS, facing issues not by the software, but by Intel's drivers. The general thinking is that Intel might have viewed Deep Link as a bit of a niche feature, possibly concluding that the continued effort and investment, especially with the need for validation with each software vendor, wasn't paying off. As for what's next, Intel hasn't announced a direct successor to these specific integrated features.

Dynabook Americas, Inc., the gold standard for long-lasting, professional-grade laptops, today introduced its latest generation of business-class laptops: the Portégé X40-M Series 2, Tecra A40-M Series 2, and Tecra A60-M Series 2. Powered by the new Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors, and equipped with Wi-Fi 7, and Windows 11 Pro, these premium Copilot-ready devices represent Dynabook's most advanced and AI-enhanced generation of productivity-focused PCs to date.

"These new -M Series 2 laptops give business and education professionals the modern tools they need to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven workplace," said James Robbins, General Manager, Dynabook Americas, Inc. "With smarter architecture, faster connectivity, and Windows 11 Pro paired with Microsoft Copilot, we're delivering powerful, secure devices that unlock productivity in entirely new ways."

GIGABYTE, a global leader in technology, today announced the availability of its flagship ultra-compact mini-PC, the New BRIX Mainstream series, accompanied by an exclusive product video release. This series is powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2) and boasts an integrated GPU with a remarkable 20% performance increase over the previous generation. Furthermore, it unleashes exceptional AI performance, delivering up to 96 Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS), making it perfectly suited for demanding generative AI tasks and intensive multitasking scenarios.

⁠Designed to meet the growing needs of smart home solutions, commercial deployments, content creation, and edge computing, the BRIX Mainstream series packs this impressive performance into a remarkably compact 0.46-liter chassis with a sleek 3.5 cm profile. Despite its size, it offers top-tier computing power, flexible expansion options, and an eco-conscious, energy-efficient design - delivers performance that exceeds expectation.

Die shots of Intel's "Arrow Lake" desktop processors have appeared online, confirming the chiplet design we have known about since the launch. The images annotated by the YouTube channel HighYield show a four‑tile arrangement mounted on a base die made with Intel's 22 nm FinFET process. The compute tile sits at the top left, built on TSMC's N3B node and covering 117.24 mm². To its right are the SoC tile on TSMC's N6 node measuring 86.65 mm², and the GPU tile, which houses four Xe cores alongside an Arc Alchemist render slice. The I/O tile, at 24.48 mm² on the same N6 node, completes the group at the bottom left. Intel has redesigned its hybrid core layout for Arrow Lake, moving away from separate P‑core and E‑core clusters. Four of the eight high‑performance P‑cores line the die's outer edges, with the remaining four in the center. In between these lie the four efficiency E‑core clusters, each sharing 3 MB of L2 cache. A unified 36 MB L3 cache ring bus connects to every core, allowing E‑cores to tap into that larger cache pool for the first time. Intel aims to spread heat more evenly and boost background task performance.

The I/O tile integrates Thunderbolt 4 controllers, PCIe buffers and PHYs. The SoC tile carries display engines, media accelerators and DDR5 memory controllers. All tiles are bonded to the base die via Intel's Foveros Omni stacking technology. Arrow Lake also reflects a shift in Intel's manufacturing strategy. Plans to use Intel's 20A node were dropped in favor of TSMC processes, making this the first desktop CPU from Intel that relies almost entirely on external foundries. On the software side, Intel has begun offering its IPO profiles in select prebuilt systems. These presets optimize CPU and memory settings for a hassle‑free performance boost that remains within warranty limits. Meanwhile, the native 200S Boost overclocking option is rolling out via BIOS updates. Early tests suggest that 200S Boost alone yields modest gains unless paired with very high-speed DDR5 modules, while IPO profiles deliver more consistent improvements with mainstream memory configurations.

Intel today released the latest version of the Arc GPU Graphics drivers. Version 101.6790 WHQL comes with a handful of fixes. To beign with, it fixes an issue where "Warhammer 40000: Darktide" shows display corruption and blacked-out textures with Arc B-series GPUs. The drivers also address an issue with "The Last of Us Part 2" where the game puts out flickering on shadows with Arc A-series GPUs. Lastly, a general software issue where Blender experiences compatibility issues when interacting with the camera gizmo on the iGPU of Core Ultra series 2 processors ("Lunar Lake") has been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.6790 WHQL

Sparkle announced availability of its flagship custom-design Intel Arc B580 graphics card, the Sparkle B580 ROC Luna OC Ultra. The card derives its name from an all-white appearance, with white making up not just the cooler shroud and fan impellers, but also the PCB solder-mask underneath. The card's design appears to balance elements to appeal to both gamers and creators. It comes with a 2.5-slot thick design that's at least an inch taller than what constitutes full-height. It uses an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by a pair of 90 mm fans.

The Sparkle Arc B580 ROC Luna OC Ultra comes with the company's highest factory overclock for the B580, with a max boost frequency of 2800 MHz compared to 2670 MHz reference, and 2740 MHz of its Titan OC graphics card. It also comes with increased power limits of 210 W, compared to 190 W reference. It draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The company didn't reveal pricing, but we expect it to be between the $250-300 mark.

In December, we reported that Intel's next‑generation Arc graphics cards, based on the Xe3 "Celestial" IP, are finished. Tom Petersen of Intel confirmed that the Xe3 IP is baked, meaning that basic media engines, Xe cores, XMX matrix engines, ray‑tracing engines, and other parts of the gaming GPU are already designed and most likely awaiting trial fabrication. Today, we learn that Intel has reached pre‑silicon validation, meaning that trial production is imminent. According to the X account @Haze2K1, which shared a snippet of Intel's milestones, a pre‑silicon hardware model of the Intel Arc Xe3 Celestial IP is being used to map out frequency and power usage in firmware. As a reminder, Intel's pre‑silicon validation platform enables OEM and IBV partners to boot and test new chip architectures months before any physical silicon is available, catching design issues much earlier in the development cycle.

Intel provides OEMs and IBVs access to a secure, cloud‑based environment that faithfully emulates hardware‑representative systems, allowing developers to validate firmware and software stacks from anywhere without the need for physical labs. Most likely, Intel is running massive emulations of hardware on FPGAs, which act as an ASIC chip—an Arc Xe3 GPU in this case. The pre‑silicon validation team is now optimizing the power‑frequency curve and the voltage in sleep, rest, and boost states, as well as their respective frequencies. With the Xe3 IP taking many forms, engineers are experimenting with every possible form factor, from mobile to discrete graphics. Additionally, data pathways depend on these frequency curves, which in turn rely on power states that allow voltage to spike up and down as the application requires. As this work is now complete, engineers are moving on to other areas for optimization, and once the silicon returns from volume production, it will be fully optimized. We expect the first trial of silicon soon, with volume production by the end of the year or in early 2026.

Intel has only released two Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" desktop models: the B580 12 GB and B570 10 GB graphics cards. So far, these lower priced options have been warmly welcomed by reviewers and buyers alike—but gaming GPU enthusiasts are still actively clamoring for more potent second-gen "Battlemage" variants. The collective status of theorized "B750, B770, and (fancifully) B780" SKUs is frustratingly unclear. Intel has not generated any official new product noise since the launch of their B570 design, earlier this year—recent big announcements have focused on next-gen "AI PC" processor lines. A series of vague leaks have indicated cancelations and then revivals of speculated mid-to-high-end Arc Xe2 discrete cards.

As of late, a larger "BMG-G31" GPU identifier has appeared in shipping manifests—a previous leak pointed to "prototype" units being moved between company facilities. Yesterday, Haze2K1 shared another extract from NBD inventory documents—crucially, they believe that these items are heading to a crucial manufacturing plant in Vietnam. This location is/was tasked with the assembling of first-party B570 and B580 Limited Edition products. Fresh conjecture suggests that "B7XX" Limited Edition cards are in the pipeline, but current circumstances are still hazy. VideoCardz reckons that a "Developer Edition" 24 GB model is still in active development, but this rumored workstation/productivity-oriented card could be based on Intel's readily available "BMG-G21" GPU die.

Intel today announced that the latest Arc GPU Graphics Drivers update brings significant performance uplifts to the integrated graphics solution of the company's Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" mobile processors. The processor comes with an iGPU based on the Xe2 "Battlemage" graphics architecture, and depending on the processor model, up to 8 Xe cores, the latest XMX AI accelerators, the company's 2nd generation Ray Tracing Unit, and an 8 MB dedicated last-level cache. When it launched, it was expected that the iGPU of "Lunar Lake" would perform in the league of at least the discrete Arc A380 GPU, but fell slightly behind, probably because the iGPU shares memory bandwidth with the CPU complex and the memory-intensive NPU.

With the latest driver updates, Intel is promising a 10% increase in FPS averaged over a test suite of 9 game titles, but more importantly, a significant 25% increase in 99th percentile performance. The test suite covers titles relevant to this performance class, including Counter-Strike 2, Fortnite, and Payday, but also certain AAA titles, such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth Wukong. Intel recommends the drivers for anyone with a Core Ultra 200V processor model that has either Arc 140V or Arc 130V iGPU models.

Intel has released the latest version of its Arc GPU Graphics Drivers, version 101.6737 WHQL. The newest drivers update from Intel adds Game On Driver support for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered games on Intel Arc B-series and A-series GPUs, as well as Intel Core Ultra CPUs with built-in Intel Arc GPUs. The new driver update also improves average performance on Intel Arc B-series GPUs in Infinity Nikki by up to 7 percent at 1080p resolution with Ultra Settings and up to 5 percent at 1440p with Ultra Settings.

The new Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers update also fixes a couple of issues on Intel Arc B-series GPUs, including application crash in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and intermittent crash on certain motherboards with ray tracing enabled in Cyberpunk 2077. Intel also fixed issue with Call of Duty Black Ops 6 on Intel Arc A-series GPUs where shadows could exhibit darker than expected in certain campaign scenarios. The same issue is also fixed on Intel Core Ultra Series 2 CPUs with built-in Intel Arc GPUs, alongside issues where users may experience less than expected performance with screen recording on certain devices and intermittent freeze issue with video playback on external display while performing certain operations.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.6737 WHQL

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 Chinese social media 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."

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.

Budget-conscious buyers have embraced Team Blue's new generation cards, with many participants upgrading older builds with Intel Arc B580 12 GB and B570 10 GB graphics cards (original launch MSRPs: $250 and $220, respectively). Given that many owners will be sticking with prior-gen processors, industry watchdogs have leveled criticism at Team Blue—the company has disappointed many, with an apparent lack of action. Months after the fact—likely after a healthy intake of community feedback—Intel has officially acknowledged these issues. As disclosed by RonaldM_Intel's announcement: "thank you for your patience. We are aware of reports of performance sensitivity in some games when paired with older generation processors. We have increased our platform coverage to include more configurations in our validation process, and we are continuing to investigate optimizations."