According to a filtered slide of Gigabyte, Intel would prepare a curious release, the Intel Coffee Lake Refresh 9th-generation processors with the extension “KF” Intel Coffee Lake Refresh. These processors will be the Intel Core i9-9900KF, the Intel Core i7-9700KF, the Intel Core i5-9600KF, and the Intel Core i3-9350KF.
At no time is it stated that they are the “KF” variants, but “K” lets us know that these processors have enabled the multiplier to perform overclocking, while “F” could indicate that the integrated graphics could be disabled or that the iGPU itself is physically absent.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Intel has released high-performance processors with disabled integrated graphics, and with Coffee Lake Refresh, Intel could have several reasons for this. One of them, the most likely and logical, would increase the production of silicon per wafer because in the 8-core Intel Core the cubes would be 15% smaller without integrated graphics, while in the 6-core they would be 25% smaller.
On the other hand, removing the iGPU is also a way to improve TDP, temperatures and overclocking. It’s time to wait until Intel makes an official statement to know what this 9th generation Intel Core “KF” implies.