Intel attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year in Las Vegas, primarily to show off its latest Core Ultra Series 3 mobile processors — codenamed "Panther Lake." They'll appear in modern laptops, like ASUS' refreshed ZenBook S14 and ZenBook S16, but the topic of PC gaming was mostly subdued.
It wasn't entirely absent, as Intel even took a jab at its rival by calling AMD's gaming handheld chips "ancient silicon" — but desktop PC gamers were left without any new exciting announcements. That might not have always been the plan, as firmware for a long-rumored Intel Arc Battlemage B770 GPU has appeared inside a Panther Lake-based driver package for an HP laptop (via VideoCardz.)
Someone downloaded the graphics driver for a Panther Lake laptop model and discovered that the folders include firmware for the BMG-G31Driver link: https://ftp[dot]hp[dot]com/pub/softpaq/sp165501-166000/sp165849.exe pic.twitter.com/S0Jr8v1AN2January 10, 2026
Proof appeared on Reddit, under r/TechHardware, and the codenamed BMG-G31 GPU driver is listed alongside drivers understood to be compatible with Intel Arc B570 and B580 Battlemage GPUs from last year. Sadly, the hints stop there, as Intel's Tom Petersen was understandably unable to elaborate when quizzed in an interview by Digital Foundry: "I cannot comment on unreleased products or unannounced products, but it's an excellent question, and I know a lot of people are curious."
TechHardware Exclusive: Intel Battlemage G31 "B770" Firmware Shows Up In Intel Driver Package! from r/TechHardware
Curious indeed. I'm a long-standing advocate for Intel Arc discrete graphics, as they're affordable yet performant cards that have significantly improved since their broad introduction with the codenamed Alchemist series, like the Arc A770. I had my fingers crossed to see the B770 appearing at CES 2026 in Nevada, but it never showed.
If nothing else, it's a tiny shred of hope that we might see an official confirmation of the Battlemage B770 before Intel moves on to its Celestial cards — if any discrete GPUs are even planned for that. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a new affordable desktop Arc GPU, especially after rumors that even the prices of AMD Radeon cards could creep up, while surging prices still affect RAM.
Do you think the fabled Arc B770 is on the horizon, or will Intel quietly cancel it and move its focus elsewhere?
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