Greetings folks.......graphics card help Intel.....(non-classic)

[JHT7791]

Hello to everyone here,I’m JT. I’m writing to get some help about a machine I just bought.I recently just bought an old used Mac Pro(4,1) off Ebay and is the first Mac Pro I’ve ever owned.The machine is ready to use except for Ram and a video card.I’ve been looking around to find the best card for the machine.My issue is that I want to find the most powerful card currently available for Gaming,I figure there is nothing more graphics intense than Gaming above all other uses.I see that a lot of powerful cards currently available for gaming but I am looking for a card that will support what OS my machine originally shipped with which is OS 10.5.6(10.5..Since I’ve never used a Mac Pro before i’d like to run what it shipped with first before upgrading to more recent OS’s.I know there are plenty of powerful cards for Yosemite and El Capitan,but I will think about those later.Those cards are great but they don’t reach back as far as 10.5.8  I’m thinking of having two video cards(I am only using one monitor) one of the powerful most recent cards for my primary slot to run 10.10-11 and a second card to run 10.5.8 in a second slot.To this end I am also curious if anyone knows of any powerful single slot graphics cards that don’t need extra power that will use only one external case slot.My only reason for this is if I might not want to take up an extra external slot with a card that I might could use the slot for something else.My ultimate goal is I would like to find a powerful card that could run 10.5.8 and 10.10,10.11 with equal power in my primary bottom slot and leave all the other slots open for other things.As I stated above,the new graphics cards available that can run the latest OS are great,but they just don’t go back as far as 10.5.8 I’m sure someone here can find the perfect card for my needs.The only one I have found that is close to what i’m trying to find is the NVIDIA QUADRO FX 4800,but there might be a better,more powerful card than that one that can accommodate my needs.For a single slot card,I found the ATI Radeon HD 4870,but I know it’s old news,there are better ones than that out there.Thanks for reading this message,please let me know what can be found.

[devils_advisor]

The only problem is you never really said much about your needs. The fx is good for 3d and stuff but doesn't cut it by gaming. A nvidia 7800 could help you more when it comes to gaming.  Beyond that i have no idea because i dong own intel macs myself and probably never will. But lets getback to what you wanna do with osx 10.5 then we find the card.

[DieHard]

Her JT... I almost don't know where to start from you post... you are asking a lot of things at once... and this is an OS9 forum.

all I can tell you is, that even the oldest Mac Pro (with modified boot efi) can run Mavericks, Yosemite and beyond and also use a really cheap PC 1 GB nVidia Card ($39 bucks) in Mavericks and above (however you will not see any video before the login).

You can can google this info. it is on the Web.  Your first choice is to figure out exactly what OS versions you are going to run, 10.6.8 and before need a genuine Mac card or a Flashed to Mac Card

[GaryN]

FWIW

Although your Pro 4,1 may have shipped with 10.5, I submit that you should consider 10.6 as being your "original" OS.
10.5 was transitory in every sense and never served either Intel or PPC machines all that well. Although I run 10.5.8 on my PPC(s) for the ability to run certain apps that require it, 10.4 is absolutely faster and smoother.

On my older Intels, of which I have a few (laptops admittedly) 10.6 is the clear winner. It seems much more refined and "leaner", and Rosetta handles PPC software very efficiently as well.

I'm curious, though. The one thing I don't quite get from your post is exactly what you're trying to actually accomplish. Is there some game or such that you need to absolutely optimize in an earlier environment? Perhaps if we had a better idea of your end game (no pun intended) it might be helpful.

And yes, this IS an OS9 forum and this topic is very close to the abyss…