There’s no shame in Corsair PC Builder showing off Corsair products, but if you’re telling people to “build the PC of your dreams,” the reality is that you have to show people all of their options so they can make the best buying decision. By pretending that there is no competition, the tool seems a bit unsuitable for this purpose.
Corsair’s released a rival to PCPartPicker that completely misses the point
Building a PC from scratch is no easy task.
So it’s wise to do some research and make a plan. Corsair hopes to take some of the stress out of building PCs by launching a website and parts finder app. Unfortunately, this isn’t very useful unless you’re building an entire gaming rig with only Corsair components. Corsair PC builder, at first glance, seems like a decent tool for compiling your parts shopping list: it walks you through a component checklist, making sure it only shows the parts that are compatible with each other. This is an easy-to-use website to help you choose your GPU, CPU, Motherboard and go through the list. The only problem is that almost all of the components included are, unsurprisingly, only from the Corsair catalog.
Other than that, Corsair PC Builder has no competition in the categories for which it manufactures products. For example, in the SSD category, you’ll find drives from the Corsair MP600 series to choose from and none of them. Say, the best SSDs for gaming that doesn’t have Corsair SSDs. Unlike popular parts sourcing websites such as PCPartPicker, Corsair PC Builder does not provide any pricing for non-Corsair parts. This makes it impossible to determine how much your build will cost when items like the GPU. CPU, motherboard, and non-Corsair case are priceless. Corsair PC Builder will soon allow you to create forms based on a template. Which I hope will allow users to select builds best suited for 4K gaming or live streaming.
There is a suggestion that you choose the Corsair ecosystem for all your parts. Which seems far-fetched. Most people will choose the features that will give them the most bang for their buck and won’t care that everything is made under the same brand name. I understand; you want people to choose your products over your competitors. And, to Corsair’s credit, they’re pretty open about what products they’ve “curated.” But pretending they don’t exist is useless, and your PC Builder is seen as a marketing tool rather than a valuable resource for PC builders. It would make more sense to show other brands, but perhaps offer a discount to anyone who decides to go with Corsair: to encourage customers, not frustrate them.