Editing Commodore 64 (section)

=== Manufacturing cost ===
[[Vertical integration]] was the key to keeping Commodore 64 production costs low. At the introduction in 1982, the production cost was US$135 and the retail price US$595. In 1985, the retail price went down to US$149 (US${{Inflation|US|149|1985|r=-1|fmt=c}} today) and the production costs were believed to be somewhere between US$35–50 ({{nowrap|{{circa| US${{Inflation|US|35|1985|r=-1|fmt=c}}–{{Inflation|US|50|1985|r=-1|fmt=c}} today).}} }} Commodore would not confirm this cost figure. Dougherty of the [[Berkeley Softworks]] estimated the costs of the Commodore 64 parts based on his experience at [[Mattel]] and [[Imagic]].

{| class="wikitable"
|+Cost{{r|ieee85}}
|-
! Count || Price in 1985 [[United States dollar|US$]] || Part
|-
| 3 ||  1     || ROMs{{r|ieee85}}
|-
| 8 ||  1.85  || [[Dynamic random-access memory|Dynamic RAMs]]
|-
|   ||  4     || SID (sound) chip
|-
|   ||  4     || VIC-II (graphics) chip
|-
|   ||  3     || [[RF modulator]] package
|-
|   || 1–2   || [[MOS Technology 6510|6510]] 8-bit microprocessor
|-
|   ||  5     || A handful of [[Transistor–transistor logic|TTL]], buffers, power regulators and capacitors
|-
|   || 10 max || Keyboard
|-
|   || 1–2   || [[Printed circuit board]]
|-
|   || 1–2   || Plastic case
|-
|   || 5–10  || Power supply and miscellaneous connectors
|-
|   || 1–2   || Packaging and manual
|-
| Total: || 52.8–61.8
|}

To lower costs, TTL chips were replaced with less expensive custom chips and ways to increase the [[Semiconductor device fabrication#Device test|yields]] on the sound and graphics chips were found. The video chip [[MOS Technology VIC-II#List of VIC-II versions|6567]] had the ceramic package replaced with plastic but heat dissipation demanded a redesign of the chip and the development of a plastic package that can dissipate heat as well as ceramic.{{r|ieee85}}