Mac Pro 3.1 for Xcode, coding or programming? Could this machine support a more recent macOS and would that be necessary for development work?

I have a chance to buy a Mac Pro 3.1 (2008):


Intel Xeon Dual Quad-Core 2.8Ghz (8 cores total)
12GB RAM
Dual GPUs. ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB VRAM (1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 2x DVI), and HD2800 XT (2x DVI)
Dual CD/DVD Optical Drives
1TB Storage over two HDD drives
2x Firewire 800, 2x Firewire 400, 2x 1 Gigabit Ethernet, 5x USB 2.0, Audio Toslink In/Out, Headphone &amp; Speaker out
Running OS X Yosemite but can be upgraded.


I am beginner to coding but keen to get started.

Any comments on how this machine may cope (or not) with any programming tasks (mostly Xcode) are appreciated.
The machine itself is quite up to the task.

However, it is limited to El Capitan 10.11, so whilst you could use it for learning, to publish Apple usually require you have the very latest Xcode; which is incapable of being run on an older OS. For instance, Xcode 9 requires macOS 10.13.2 minimum.

If you can find the next model up - the 2009 4,1 can be upgraded by a Firmware hack to become a 5,1* &amp; then be capable of running at least Mojave.

*It can be hard to tell the difference between a true 5,1 &amp; upgraded 4,1 - but this is the giveaway...



A 'true' 5,1 would say 2010 or 2012. A non-upgraded 4,1 couldn't be running even Sierra, so this has to be an upgraded 4,1
I know this for sure - it's my machine ;-)

Additional note: Whichever you decide on, the first thing to do is add an SSD as boot drive. The difference in performance cannot be overstated. Recent versions of macOS expect you to be running from SSD.