Ok, I got an HP Pavilion Slimline almost a year ago and I am fed up with playing games on ultra low settings and still getting below 25FPS so I am thinking of investing in a better GPU for around 200-400 dollars. I am not very knowledgeable about computer parts so I was wondering if anybody could recommend any decent graphics cards.
P.S Yes I know I should have posted this in a forum related to computers but I did not feel like making an account to post a single post.
P.S.S My current graphics card is an AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics Card
Well, first off, how much are you willing to spend on a graphics card? Also, if you’re going to upgrade the GPU, it’s best that you upgrade your CPU and memory to avoid bottlenecking (1 low end part stopping a higher end part from working to its full potential).
Actually, first thing to consider is what kind of graphics slot do you have available? Is it AGP (not likely but possible) or PCIe? Or is there even a slot available? That is an integrated GPU, not an actual stand-alone graphics card. Before buying anything, make sure there is an expansion slot for a graphics card, and that the BIOS can disable onboard graphics. The NEXT question is budget. 
I did a quick Google search for the PC, and it seems to have 1 PCIe slot. 
Besides the advice above on seeing what slots you have available (PCIe, it seems) you need to consider what type of games you play and how decent you want your graphics and FPS (framerate per second) to be. If you want some of the current top line graphicscards, you should take into account this would set you back atleast 250-300 euros. Also you need to check what power supply you have, as your current one might not be capable of providing all the power that graphicscard needs. Also, I dont really know about brand computers, like HP, but I remember something about them not being able to (or atleast it wouldnt be easy) to exchange parts or something like that.
I dont know how old your pc is, but all together, I would say, if you wish to spend 400 bucks on a PC, then save up a bit more and just buy a new computer with a decent processor, SSD, motherbaord, powersupply 8 gigs of ram and a nice videocard. 800 bucks should do the trick really, and will get you a really fast PC.
[quote=“WizzyThaMan”]Besides the advice above on seeing what slots you have available (PCIe, it seems) you need to consider what type of games you play and how decent you want your graphics and FPS (framerate per second) to be. If you want some of the current top line graphicscards, you should take into account this would set you back atleast 250-300 euros. Also you need to check what power supply you have, as your current one might not be capable of providing all the power that graphicscard needs. Also, I dont really know about brand computers, like HP, but I remember something about them not being able to (or atleast it wouldnt be easy) to exchange parts or something like that.
I dont know how old your pc is, but all together, I would say, if you wish to spend 400 bucks on a PC, then save up a bit more and just buy a new computer with a decent processor, SSD, motherbaord, powersupply 8 gigs of ram and a nice videocard. 800 bucks should do the trick really, and will get you a really fast PC.[/quote]
@Wizzy: OP stated about 1 year ago. It could be a closeout from a year ago, however, since the graphics chip doesn’t seem to be used anymore. And since it is an integrated GPU, then almost any stand-alone would be an improvement just for the dedicated RAM on the card. I would actually recommend against going with the high-end ($200-$700) cards on that PC. Unless you upgrade everything, it would be a waste.
@OP: To get a fair recommendation, you should probably include the model number for your pc and/or some specs. There are a number of HP Pavillion Slimlines over the years, and there are a lot of variances between them. I have an older Slimline which came with XP, and it actually has an AGP slot even though it was made after PCIe became the norm. This is what budget PC’s are all about. Assuming your stated age, it is somewhat safe to assume you do have a PCIe slot, but impossible to be certain without the proper information. A lower-end Raedon (R7, HD6000 or HD7000) would suffice and could give you the boost you need with as little as 1Gb (or as much as 2Gb) of dedicated GDDR memory. I actually have an Acer laptop with your graphics chip, and while it isn’t awful, it is definitely not for gaming. (Yes, I have quite a number of running computers as this is my hobby and my profession) Given that you have a slimline, you’re probably going to want a low-profile card because there really isn’t a lot of room inside the case. FYI, the chipset is from 2010, so the computer is at least that recent.
I don’t know if this would work for you, as there are other factors to consider, such as VGA vs DVI vs HDMI connections. This one actually has all 3 types, is less than $100, but it is PCIe 3.0.
XFX Radeon R7 240 Video Card - 2GB DDR3, PCI-Express 3.0, AMD HD3D Technology - R7-240A-CLJV
Like I said in the last 2 sentences. I would say, save up and buy a better PC to last for 6 more years at least instead of spending 400 bucks on just a graphics card, or indeed, as you suggest, buy a lower end card for about 100 bucks or something.
Sorry. I wasn’t trying to step on your toes. I was agreeing with what you said, even if it didn’t come across like that. OP said the general age of the computer is all.
I can see where you’re coming from. I recently upgraded a similar HP Slimline system for a friend (low end-gpu, SSD) as they were happy with it but wanted a bit more pep. The problem with that system was the power supply. It’s a tiny Mini ITX one, and was rated at 120w. That’s not really a great deal of good for anything, but it’s currently running a low end ATI card happily.
Basically just echoing what others have said. You won’t be able to spend 400 dollars in a GPU, because it won’t work in your system. However, for not much more you would be able to build a reasonably competent PC with a fair bit more gaming power than the HP.