What are your experiences?

until very recently I used an off the shelf Dell XPS desktop.  It was rock solid.  It had an i7 processor and 12 gig of RAM.  I ran very large projects with loads of VSTs and virtual instruments all the time for about 3 years with it.  Never really had any issues at all.  I just disabled the onboard sound and uninstalled all the stupid Dell stuff.  Worked like a charm.  I recently built up a new DAW for myself, but it was really out of greed and boredom more than anything else. 
 
The Dell is now my home server for movies and music and stuff.

I looked at the Dell XPS 8900 before I built my latest system.  The Dell didn't have enough SATA ports or space for hard drives for my uses and required adding PCIe USB port cards to get enough needed USB ports.  If you can live with what the stock system is, then it would be OK.   
 
My new self built system came in under $700.  I already had Windows 10 Pro (and the digital entitlement) so I didn't need to buy another copy of the OS. 

fireberd
I looked at the Dell XPS 8900 before I built my latest system.  The Dell didn't have enough SATA ports or space for hard drives for my uses and required adding PCIe USB port cards to get enough needed USB ports.  If you can live with what the stock system is, then it would be OK.   
 
My new self built system came in under $700.  I already had Windows 10 Pro (and the digital entitlement) so I didn't need to buy another copy of the OS. 

Care to share your parts list and sources? 

I reused some items so the price does not reflect ALL the components.  I bought parts from www.newegg.com  and Amazon.  The CPU, memory and CPU liquid cooler from newegg, The motherboard and power supply from Amazon.
 
I7 6700K CPU 16GB G Skill Trident DD4 3400 memory, Corsair H100i liquid cooler, ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus Hero motherboard, EVGA Gold 750 watt full modular power supply.  I reused my case (BeQuiet 600), two optical drives, two SSD's and one conventional hard drive.
 
After looking at actual costs, it is $804.  I was guessing before on the $700, as I bought the parts over a couple of weeks, not all at once or at one place.  If had to buy the case and SSD/hard drives it would be closer to $1200. 

Thanks for the follow up.

I've been using Dell computers for years.  For a generic system, they actually do the job quite well.
Current setup is an XPS with i7 and 16 GB RAM and AMD video card and two video monitors.
It's a lot of bang for the buck.... BUT - I am not impressed with Dell customer service.  Usually quite difficult to
get real answers and knowledgeable support.
 
My next DAW will probably be a custom unit from one of our helpful forum members.