EPP or student discount help?

Hi Im still in the process of purchasing my alienware M17x. I just wanted to know if its better to take an Employee Purchase program discount or student discount? If possible can you provide me with the % as many of you have used epp. also are both applicable at the same time? Thank you for your help.

Ps here is my current config
17-inch WideXGA+ 1440x900
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled
320GB - 2x 160GB 7,200RPM - RAID 0

ship+tax total $3,417.70
Im trying to get it down as much as i can , but i really want the qx9300

 

you need your employee id to get employee discount or a college edu email to get student discount.

 

My brother who is purchasing it on my behalf has both id's. He works for an IT firm and is a student. That's why I wanted to know the % of the discount or if both are applicable.

 

why do you want a QX9300 ? are you a professional movie or sound editor ? do you encode programs hours a day ?

If not your wasteing your money


ALSO with only a 1440 screen your wasteing your money with dual 280's

ALSO dual 280's are only 10% faster then 260 and NOT worth the 300+


They are both 7%

 

And do not stack... they're the same thing from what I gather.

Also, did you mean "if not" Moo? That sentence was kind of confusing.

 

yea unless you do professional work the qx9300 is a waste

 

I really appreciate you help moo, I saw your guide & review on the M17.

The reason Im getting a qx9300 is because Im in the music production field and work with pro-tools, sonar.

Im also a heavy gamer when Im not working and I enjoy playing Fallout 3 and Crysis. I was worried that a Q9000 would not be enough for gaming and music editing. if it is sufficient i will change it.

As for the screen size I prefer a native 1440x900 screen for viewing(will use the hdmi output for hi-res) The 280m sli came with that discount code that was posted in the forum.

Are both epp & student discounts applicable at the same time?

 

well then i approve but the 260 in SLI is only 10% @ max faster

My heavily OC'd 260m GTX is @ 6200 in vantage which is only 200 points behind e HEAVLY OC'd 280m GTX

 

"Are both epp & student discounts applicable at the same time?"

Nope, they are the same thing and go through epp.

 

exactly when you use the student discount it takes you to the EPP site

 

Great thanks a lot for your help guys. I'm posting on the benchmark thread regarding 260m sli. +rep to both

 

RE 5 bench mark overclocked SINGLE 260 i get almost 50 FPS average while 280's in SLI get almost 70

 

So basically a q9000 and sli 260 should be perfect? for my gaming and music editing.

 

yea but like i said in the benchmarks


if your usig that code then the qx9300 woudl be useful but a q9000 would be good to ... its your call as far as the money


qx9300 will be faster

q9000 will be cheaper but slower


you can buy a qx9300 off ebay and put it in for about 550$