[ippisl]

The problem is that they didn't wrote in their paper :"white boxes are known to have large variability in their level of reliability. We leave it to further study to compare the reliability of white boxes built with quality components to brand boxes".

Do you think they haven't known that ?

This kind of remarks of the incompleteness of research done is common in many research papers. And they definitely contribute to readers not getting the wrong impression.

[scott_s]

The problem with your statement is that it's based on anecdote. From their related work section: "The effect on failure rates of overclocking and underclocking, brand name vs. white box, and memory size have not been previously studied." You assume that white boxes have a large variability in reliability based on your personal experience and anecdote. But, according to the authors, there is no systematic study backing that up. "Quality components" is similarly difficult to pin down.

The authors stated a conclusion, but did not speculate on the cause behind the conclusion. I see no bias in them not calling attention to the fact that they have not studied the cause - that is self-evident.