Intel disables DirectX 12 on its older CPUs to mitigate a hardware vulnerability

Intel Disables DirectX 12 on their Haswell processors  

Intel has removed DirectX 12 support from their Haswell series processors with their latest GPU drivers to combat a hardware vulnerability, removing the danger posed by potential escalation of privilege threats. 

Thankfully, most Haswell users will not be playing games using their GPU’s integrated graphics solution, making the impact of this change minimal. That said, those who do not want to disable DirectX 12 support on their Haswell iGPUs can simply not install Intel’s latest graphics drivers. 

DirectX 12 will be disabled on Intel’s Haswell-series integrated graphics solutions starting with their 15.40.44.5107 drivers. This driver disables DirectX 12 support on the following processors. 

– 4th Generation Intel® Core Processors with Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
– 4th Generation Intel® Core Processors with Intel Iris Graphics 5100
– 4th Generation Intel® Core Processors with Intel HD Graphics 5000/4600/4400/4200
– Intel Pentium® and Celeron Processors with Intel HD Graphics based on 4th Generation Intel® Core

Users of discrete graphics cards will still be able to support DirectX 12 through their dedicated graphics card. This fact alone makes Intel’s removal of DirectX 12 support a non-issue for most gamers that use Haswell era processors. Intel’s newer processors do not appear to be impacted by Haswell’s iGPU vulnerability, allowing Broadwell and newer processors to support DirectX 12 on their integrated graphics solutions with Intel’s latest drivers.

 

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