Press "F" For Graphics: Leak Suggests Intel "F" Lineup Returns For Alder Lake

Intel's Alder Lake lineup of processors was detailed last week at Intel's Architecture Day, providing us with further details about the first x86 hybrid architecture with big and little cores packed onto one die. The company mentioned that these CPUs will be accompanied by Xe GPUs. However, according to the well-known industry leaker Komachi Ensaka, we have come to know that Alder Lake will bring back the "F"  versions without integrated graphics.

Alder Lake is packing many types of processing elements onto one package. There are smaller, low-power, efficient cores called E-cores, and higher-performance P-cores. Alongside the usual I/O elements, Intel also embeds the Xe graphics in the die.

With the past few generations, Intel introduced a concept of the "F" series of processors, where the F model has integrated graphics disabled. 

According to Komachi (@KOMACHI_ENSAKA) on Twitter, the person who is a well-known hardware leaker in the hardware community, Intel has prepared a series of F models based on Alder Lake design. There are lots of F models listed there, starting from Core i5-12600KF, Core i7-12700KF, and Core i9-12900KF. All these F processors will come with the standard core configuration of the K model (Core i5-12600K, Core i7-12700K, and Core i9-12900K), just with the internal graphics being disabled and still present on the die. 

As we already know, the F models have their iGPU disabled, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. As the integrated GPU produces heat, some users with overclocking intentions could benefit from the disabled iGPU as there is no heat output coming out of it. Intel could also introduce some price cuts compared to the regular models, allowing for the PC budget to go elsewhere.