Im finally reaching the point that my cpu needs are really taking a toll on my dual core laptop. I want to move up to a big time desktop computer that i can count on for some time, but do i really need to drop two or three thousand for a rain ion or something from ADK? is it worth it? customer support wise? lifetime warranties, thats what were paying for right? I need a desktop with 6 usb ports and a quad core, with a butt ton of hard drive and thats built to last. And while were at it, is anybody familliar with solid state disc drives?

Why ask this question if you already think they are overpriced?

 Need? Absolutely not, but a custom build will assure you have a stable system optimized for the job. There is a guy here that has built several machines for users here. Jim Roseberry I think his name is. I would think he could build you a great DAW for a lot less. Just guessing there I don't know what he charges.

Over priced, or over spec.??? - there is a difference

I have just ordered a purpose build DAW from SCAN in the UK. When you start to price up the individual components and look what goes into these systems you are not really paying that much of a premium to the builder. You can of course pick up a off the shelf office or gaming PC cheaper but by the time you add extra RAM, hard drives, SSD or what ever there will not be a whole load of difference and the chance of compatibility issues will be nuch greater.

If you don't need that type of spec you don't need to spend so much, SCAN for example do a i5 based DAW with 8GB RAM and 1.5 TB hard disk space for less than half the price of the system I am getting. 

Its all about the specification, their professionally built DAWs range in price from around 700 UK pounds, up to about 6000

Yes the word overpriced was a pour choice.  Expensive yes, overpriced, not really. You get what you pay for. Or you could build your own , but that will take hours and days of research. Fine if your unemployed and it's a good hobby too. 

It's worth the extra expense when you consider a) you know it's been set up properly, b) warranties

I'm not saying I know they're over priced, I'm asking if the warranties and service are worth the price. I guess having a custom build wouldn't be that much cheaper anyways. 

The advantage of a custom build is just that...
You have control over literally every component that goes into the machine.
Quality components (known to work well in a DAW), configured well... 
That's as good as it gets.

So are things like driver trouble and blue screen crashes relatively unheard of with these builds?

I've had ADK build a coupe of machines over the years.  Like anything electronic, parts can break, boards fail, etc., etc., etc.

When that has happened, or I've had other troubles, I have always found their tech support to be most helpful.  As one who is not in the position to build my own, or want the headaches of finding the parts that "play nice" with each other, I consider the money very well spent.

You will find that both the people at ADK, and Jim Roseberry, are very helpful, and you would not go wrong purchasing from either.  Both can tailor a machine to your needs, and depending on what you do, you may or may not need a real "high-end" computer.