help cpu how low can I go??

[fantom]

Hi all I am building a file server and need SATA 2 raid 5. I am looking at different raid 5 motherboards but cannot figure out how slow of CPU I can use and still make the raid 5 work. Looking at the Asus p5wd2 and the Gigabyte 8i955x but do I need a Pentium D or Extreme to make it work or will a p4 800fsb prescott work? Help no need for speed with this set up.

 

[fishmahn]

Since performance doesn't matter, any CPU will work.

Just to warn you however, RAID 5 on most if not all mobos is going to be software raid 5. That means the CPU is going to be doing the parity/redundancy work and regardless of how much CPU you get it will always be slow.

I would buy an expansion card with true hardware raid 5 support, then just put any cpu in it. You'll have a good performer for not much money.