Intel is gearing up to launch a new graphics card in its Arc Battlemage lineup, featuring cutting-edge PCIe 5.0 x16 support. Recently, PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group) registered a new Intel product under the codename ’99CMLN’. This new GPU is the first in the Arc Battlemage series to feature the PCIe 5.0 interface, which offers a significant leap from the older PCIe 4.0 standard used in previous models.
This comes as a response to the growing adoption of PCIe Gen 5.0 by competitors like NVIDIA and AMD, although the performance gains from PCIe 5.0 may be minimal in most real-world scenarios.
The GPU, registered on May 9, 2025, adds to a growing list of Arc Battlemage cards, including two other GPUs under the codenames ’99CGHV’ and ’99CW89′, likely referring to the Arc Pro B60 and B50 models. While the new product’s exact specs remain a mystery, it’s expected to offer significant improvements in terms of bandwidth and future-proofing
. The PCIe 5.0 x16 lanes are anticipated to push data transfer rates even higher, though for most users, PCIe 4.0 will likely remain sufficient.
Reports hint that the new Battlemage GPU may be a higher-end variant, potentially a successor to the B580, though there’s speculation about the B770 as well. Leaks suggest that the B770 might feature Intel’s BMG-G31 die, 24-32 Xe2 cores, and up to 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. The PCIe 5.0 interface, however, is unlikely to drastically improve gaming performance, as PCIe 4.0 already provides ample bandwidth for current GPUs, including top-tier models like NVIDIA’s 4090.
Though the industry is rapidly shifting towards PCIe 5.0, Intel’s decision to embrace the new standard in their Arc GPUs is more about ensuring compatibility with future applications, such as AI and professional workloads, rather than providing a dramatic performance boost today. Whether the new Arc B770 will offer a competitive edge in terms of performance remains to be seen.