Difference between Brown and Beige keyed C64 computers?

[jdrose]

Other than the color of the keys, is there any difference electronic or otherwise between the C64 computers with Brown keys and the ones with Beige keys? Such as eBay 190812224142 for example.

 

Thank you.

[Uzumaki]

Hardware revisions but not much else. All of the breadbox 64 are virtually identical. The cream colored C64C is different in color but the internal is mostly the same.

[abraXXious]

Very similar, however there is a couple of differences.

 

The MAIN difference is that the C64C uses a ner revision of the SID chip *Sound Interface Device) - this is the audio processor of the C64.

 

The original SID is the SID 6581 - this is what is found in all "breadbox" C64s. However, in late 1986 the C64C was released to replace the original breadbox C64 and it included the newly revised SID 8580.

 

Now there are a couple of other SID revisions, but these are really the same as the original 6581.

 

The main two you need to know about are the 6581 and 8580.

 

With the 8580, Commodore eliminated a bug that caused slight background noise. Unforunately, this same "bug" had been used by programmers for a few years to produce sampled sound and speech in games. So the offshoot was that with the newer C64C, some audio samples either could not be heard at all or were very faint. The 8580 also has a slightly different sound to the 6581.

 

Some prefer the sound of the original SID, others prefer the sound of the newer - I find that some games sound better with one, and others sound better with the other so its about even.

 

With regards the sound samples though, there is an easy fix for the newer sid where by you add a resistor and ground (with partial resistance) one of the pins of the SID 8580 so that it introduces the same sound the "bug" used to cause. This gives you back your audio samples. You can use a simple toggle switch so that you can switch this "bug" on and off at will. This essentially gives you the best of both worlds.

 

Oh, and you cannot swap a SID 6581 with a SID 8580 as they run different voltages (original SID is 12v, newer SID is 9v).

 

You can, however, get a dual SID or Stereo SID board and have two SIDS which sounds awesome! Some SID boards even allow you to use one of each SID - a 6581 and an 8580 at the same time (the boards supply 9v to one and 12v to the other). This sounds amazing as you get the slightly different sounds of the two sids playing together in stereo.

 

Lastly, the C64C uses less power and runs cooler so is more reliable than the original breadbox C64 - I personally always go for the C64C as I have never come across a dead one, but have come across several dead breadbox C64s.

[jdrose]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write that. However, the differences between the C64C and the C64 are well documented in print and online. I was aware of those differences.

 

I was wondering if there are any hardware differences between the breadbox C64 with the brown keys and the breadbox C64 with the beige keys?

[abraXXious]

Ahhhh, I see.

 

Some of the beige keyed breadbox C64s use a similar mb to the C64C - some use the newer SID, some use a 9v version of the older SID and some use the original 12v sid.

 

Other than that, there is almost no difference at all.

[CrazyChris]

Thanks,

 

I didn't know about the diffrent SID chips.

 

Chris

[Tempest]

Do all 128's have the new SID chip or is it hit and miss?