Intel GPU-less “F series” is back

Informatica Cero has just released a new slide from the 10th Gen Core-S presentation, a slide that appears to be part of the same presentation as the leaked in December.

The new slide focuses on the F-series, which lack integrated graphics. These series were first introduced in late 2018, when Intel released a Coffee Lake-based CPUs such as i3-8100F, i3-9350KF, i5-9400F, and even Core i9-9900KF.

Intel F vs non-F Series

Unofficially the F series use the same silicon as the non-F series. They are basically the same chips that would otherwise be rendered useless due to manufacturing defects to the integrated graphics. By disabling this part of the chip and advertising the series accordingly, Intel can simply sell more chips.

There are pros and cons to the F series. The 9th Gen Core F series are on average $25 cheaper than non-F (with iGPU), Overclock3D reports after the most recent price cut. According to other reports, the KF variant might be more binned SKU than the non-F, but generally, there is not much of a difference between the two.

The downside, however, is that your CPU will always require dedicated graphics (which may increase power consumption). You also lose QuickSync support and discrete graphics card troubleshooting may become a problem.

Comet Lake-S F series

Intel allegedly is planning to use the same strategy with the upcoming 10th Gen Core series. The new F series will have the same clock speeds and same core/thread configuration as the non-F series, a leaked slide shows. There is no information on the official pricing.

The 10th Gen Core-S series is expected next month. There has not yet been any confirmation on the release date yet, but the launch will be accompanied by a 400-series LGA1200 motherboards announcement so that might also be an important factor.

The whole 10th Gen Core-S lineup would look like this:

Intel 10th Gen Core-S Comet Lake S Series (Feb 20th) Core SKU Cores / Threads Base Clock Single Core Turbo Max Turbo 3.0 All Core Turbo Thermal Velocity Boost TDP i9-10900K 10C/20T 3.7 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.2 GHz 4.8 GHz 5.3/4.9 GHz 125W i9-10900KF 10C/20T 3.7 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.2 GHz 4.8 GHz 5.3/4.9 GHz 125W i9-10900 10C/20T 2.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.5 GHz 5.2/4.6 GHz 65W i9-10900F 10C/20T 2.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.5 GHz 5.2/4.6 GHz 65W i7-10700K 8C/16T 3.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.7 GHz NA 125W i7-10700KF 8C/16T 3.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.7 GHz NA 125W i7-10700 8C/16T 2.9 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.6 GHz NA 65W i7-10700F 8C/16T 2.9 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.6 GHz NA 65W i5-10600K 6C/12T 4.1 GHz 4.8 GHz NA 4.5 GHz NA 125W i5-10600KF 6C/12T 4.1 GHz 4.8 GHz NA 4.5 GHz NA 125W i5-10600 6C/12T 3.3 GHz 4.8 GHz NA 4.4 GHz NA 65W i5-10500 6C/12T 3.1 GHz 4.5 GHz NA 4.2 GHz NA 65W i5-10400 6C/12T 2.9 GHz 4.3 GHz NA 4.0 GHz NA 65W i5-10400F 6C/12T 2.9 GHz 4.3 GHz NA 4.0 GHz NA 65W i3-10320 4C/8T 3.8 GHz 4.6 GHz NA 4.4 GHz NA 65W i3-10300 4C/8T 3.7 GHz 4.4 GHz NA 4.2 GHz NA 65W i3-10100 4C/8T 3.6 GHz 4.3 GHz NA 4.1 GHz NA 65W “K Series” – Unlocked, “F Series” – no iGPU, “KF Series” – Unlocked & no iGPU

Source: Informatica Cero