Can you use any kind of RAM on any kind of PC?

[Alesha Marie]

Is there certain brand of RAM to buy for the brand of your computer? I play The Sims 3 and it uses so much RAM that it crashes. I have a widget of 2 gauges: 1 for my CPU and other for RAM (in percentages) on my desktop. My game crashed today and I seen the RAM gauge was at 100%, so I'm thinking I need more RAM. Well, my mom has an old Acer computer, so I was wondering if I can take out the RAM out of that computer and put it in mine (Toshiba Satellite c655) to bump up memory instead of buying RAM.
P.s—I'm a computer noob. I have 100 GB free of 200 GB free space on hard drive, and 1.87 GB usable of 2.00 GB RAM. The Sims 3 uses a lot of memory already, PLUS I have lots of custom content that I want to keep. Thanks!
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 900 @2.20 GHz 2.19 GHz

 

[spivsspi]

Is there certain brand of RAM to buy for the brand of your computer? I play The Sims 3 and it uses so much RAM that it crashes. I have a widget of 2 gauges: 1 for my CPU and other for RAM (in percentages) on my desktop. My game crashed today and I seen the RAM gauge was at 100%, so I'm thinking I need more RAM. Well, my mom has an old Acer computer, so I was wondering if I can take out the RAM out of that computer and put it in mine (Toshiba Satellite c655) to bump up memory instead of buying RAM.
P.s—I'm a computer noob. I have 100 GB free of 200 GB free space on hard drive, and 1.87 GB usable of 2.00 GB RAM. The Sims 3 uses a lot of memory already, PLUS I have lots of custom content that I want to keep. Thanks!
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 900 @2.20 GHz 2.19 GHz

Unfortunately you can not use desktop memory in a laptop. To fix your memory issue you will need to use laptop memory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007609%20600000414%20600000403&IsNodeId=1&name=4GB%20%282%20x%202GB%29
That is a link to some of the memory that should work.
You could also purchase from Toshiba, that memory is guaranteed to work.

 

[bgunner]

laptops take 204 pin memory. desk tops take 240 pin memory, older ddr systems took 184 pin memory. some memory is DDR others are DDR2, DDR3. speeds and voltages can be different.

now in order for us to know what ram you have we need the Make/model numbers of both systems. If the ACER is a desktop then no it wont work But if it is a laptop It could as long as it is the same type of memory. Brand is "who made it" so brand usually does not mater so much any more but the sticks all need to be the same type. Type is DDR , DDR2, DDR3 and speed could mater also.

 

[C12Friedman]

First, I'm going to question your reading of the widget. Without running many things at once I would be incline to believe it is your CPU which is hitting 100% usage and not ram. I'm going to go a little further here and suggest you run CoreTemp (free download) and check your temperatures. My suspicion here is heat issues.
Ram is not quite as versatile as you would want to believe. Mixing and matching ram is not suggested due to possible incompatability issues. Ram for desktops will not fit in laptop ram slots and vice-versa. There are various 'flavors' of ram which have been used over the years and each one is unique. There are also speed, timing and voltage differences between ram of the same architecture which can play havoc if mixing.