Intel’s Haswell-E 8-core i7 CPU – is it awesome?

Intel recently revealed its brand-spanking new Haswell-E processors, which – in the i7-5960X version – will offer the first consumer 8-core CPU to gamers.

The Haswell-E won’t just slot into your current gaming rig, though. The new CPUs will require the new sticks of DDR4 RAM (also recently released), along with the new X99 chipset motherboards.

Don’t stress, your old keyboard and mouse will be compatible.

The new X99 boards will offer greater overclocking capabilities for gamers, while the DDR4 RAM gives faster speeds – therefore better performance – and is up to 40% more energy efficient than DDR3 RAM.

“We’re thrilled to unveil the next phase in our ‘reinvention of the desktop’ we outlined earlier this year,” said Lisa Graff, vice president and general manager, Intel’s Desktop Client Platform Group.

“This product family is aimed squarely at those enthusiasts who push their systems further than anyone, and we’re offering the speed, cores, overclocking, and platform capabilities they have asked us for.”

Intel showed off the new CPU at PAX 2014 recently, where gamers got to witness “8-core, less lag” gameplay.

Gaming PC builder Alienware – in a strategic partnership kind of statement – endorsed Intel’s new Haswell-E CPUs, saying they provide “cutting-edge technology” to give their customers a competitive edge.

Intel has also punted the CPUs 4K video editing and data intensive processing capabilities, for those who make a living with their PCs.

PC hardware experts Anandtech took a liking to the i7-5820K version of the new CPUs, calling it a “champion in terms of non-Xeon throughput”.

In summation, Anandtech said that although the new CPUs bring with them the X99 chipset and DDR4 RAM, they do not overclock as well as the Ivy Bridge-E or Sandy Bridge-E, but performance is comparable.

That being said, the Haswell-Es are 8% faster, clock for clock.