RAM Upgrade or Graphics Card Upgrade for game recording....?

depends; how much ram do you currently have and what graphics card do you currently have. I'm guessing since its an HP it doesn't have a very good stock graphics card and you never upgraded it so that's probably it. Also, you could try turning down the graphics options in minecraft as well as using different recording software (Fraps isn't the best tbh. Try xfire's recorder, dunno if it supports minecraft but it is free. Also see if you're eligible for a free copy of micrsoft windows expression, it comes with the best screen recorder i've ever come across.)