Need info on upgrading graphics card

[SellyTrix]

So, i recently bought an HP Pavilion 500-214 Desktop PC. It's a massive upgrade from my potato laptop. Starting college soon, i needed a machine to keep up with the work i'm doing (Animating, modelling, programming, modding) basically everything to do with game design. I also bought it to play some games on the side. I also record and edit game footage and design tutorials.

Here is the product page: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c04100368&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=6529629#N557

And here are the current specs on it (from the box):
AMD Elite Quad Core A8-6500 Accelerated processor
8GB DDR3 Ram
2TB Harddrive
AMD Radeon HD 8570D Graphics
OS: It's windows 8.1 but i cannot figure out if it's 32 or 64bit as it seems to change on its own (crazy, i know)

Now, as i'm not very educated in the hardware of a computer. i need some help with a few things.
I'd really appreciate the help and answers.

1. Can i upgrade my graphics? (Seeing as how my graphics card is integrated, i'd like a dedicated)
2. If so, what card is the highest-powered my system can support?
3. Is there some component i can add (other than upgrading ram) to help with my game design/recording performance?

Again, i'd really appreciate the help

 

[ujrkingdom]

What programs are you gonna be using for the most part? If you're gonna be using Maya and 3ds max then a a really good firepro good would help although they're very pricey and you might be just as well off with a Radeon card if you're not gonna be setting up scenes with a very large poly count and if you're gonna be working in a game engine. Also what's your budget (high end graphics cards will be expensive and judging by your power supply I would probably swap that out for a higher wattage one otherwise you won't have enough power for a graphics card - assuming you go for a high end one)?

 

[SellyTrix]

What programs are you gonna be using for the most part? If you're gonna be using Maya and 3ds max then a a really good firepro good would help although they're very pricey and you might be just as well off with a Radeon card if you're not gonna be setting up scenes with a very large poly count and if you're gonna be working in a game engine. Also what's your budget (high end graphics cards will be expensive and judging by your power supply I would probably swap that out for a higher wattage one otherwise you won't have enough power for a graphics card - assuming you go for a high end one)?

I tend to use Blender, Maya, Nifskope, Gimp2.0 - for all of the creation aspects.
Gaming wise i do - PlanetSide 2, WoW, Fallout NV and Skyrim, I also use the Creation kits for Fallout and Skyrim

My current budget is 300$

 

[Pcbuilder123]

What programs are you gonna be using for the most part? If you're gonna be using Maya and 3ds max then a a really good firepro good would help although they're very pricey and you might be just as well off with a Radeon card if you're not gonna be setting up scenes with a very large poly count and if you're gonna be working in a game engine. Also what's your budget (high end graphics cards will be expensive and judging by your power supply I would probably swap that out for a higher wattage one otherwise you won't have enough power for a graphics card - assuming you go for a high end one)?

I tend to use Blender, Maya, Nifskope, Gimp2.0 - for all of the creation aspects.
Gaming wise i do - PlanetSide 2, WoW, Fallout NV and Skyrim, I also use the Creation kits for Fallout and Skyrim

My current budget is 300$

You can easily upgrade for that much, except the thing is your processor is fairly slow. It will slow down the fast graphics card because in games, the cpu will be the limiting factor. Also these components may or may not fit in your case. Take a ruler, and measure from the pci expansion slots in the bottom left in your case when looking from the side panel and see how much clearance there is, so for that much you could get an amd fx6300, a ga78lmt-usb3, and a cx430 with a r7 260x around 300$, but would this upgrade (motherboard, cpu, gpu, power supply) be too complicated because you said you are not very educated? You will need a decent power supply like a corsair cx600 and buy something like a r9 280, if you don't want to upgrade the other parts.
Here are the links:
PSU:http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Builder-Series-Watt-CX600/dp/B0092ML0OC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403290287&sr=8-1&keywords=cx600
GPU:http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Double-933MHz-Graphics-R9280ATDFD/dp/B00J44WVYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403290314&sr=8-1&keywords=r9+280

 

[Pcbuilder123]

If you want, you could get a cx500, a r7 265, and invest in a nzxt source 210 or a corsair spec 01 case, but, once again, it might be a little bit complicated of an upgrade, if you know nothing of installing a motherboard and power supply, gpu, etc... but it is easy to learn
Watch this video for reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMRvz_IYSgM
It is generally similar for all computers to upgrade.