[Sticky] Welcome to the official Commodore Ultimate 64 discussion thread!

Hey everyone –

Back in 2017, Gideon Zweijtzer (the genius behind the legendary 1541 Ultimate series that started way back in 2008) unveiled his Ultimate 64: a drop-in FPGA motherboard that recreated the entire C64 logic board at the gate level on modern Xilinx hardware. Cycle-accurate, fully compatible with original carts/peripherals/disks, and loaded with extras like built-in Ultimate-II+ features, HDMI out, Ethernet, USB loading, turbo CPU modes, multiple virtual SIDs, and way more RAM. It was a game-changer for anyone tired of hunting working breadbins or dealing with capacitor rot and PLA failures.

Fast-forward to mid-2025: with Commodore trademarks revived under new ownership (shoutout to Christian “Perifractic” Simpson and the team), they partnered with Gideon to launch the official Commodore 64 Ultimate – basically the Ultimate 64 Elite-II board wrapped in a fresh breadbin-style case (with options for RGB glow, transparent shells, etc.), a recreated keyboard, and that classic Commodore branding. Pre-orders kicked off around July 2025, early units hit reviewers in early 2026, and shipping ramped up this year. It’s the first “new” Commodore computer in over three decades, blending perfect 1982 authenticity with 2026 convenience – no more 1541 clunking needed when you can mount D64s over USB or WiFi!

This thread is the place to share your experiences: unboxings and first-boot photos, firmware update adventures, game/peripheral compatibility wins (and any rare quirks), turbo mode benchmarks, SID comparisons, custom tweaks, loading your favorite titles at 48MHz, or just posting “what’s on your screen right now?” 
Let’s keep the 8-bit revival rolling.

Drop pics and stories below!

-Sutehk