Welp. C64 issues are definitely thermal. SID's roasting despite doing nothing. All the RAM's hot, the CPU's hot, the PLA's hot (duh), the CIAs and ROMs are cooler but still hot... and that's with it doing nothing.
A comparison pic of an Apple IIe running a program. It's stone cold compared to the C64.
https://mastodon.sdf.org/media/nVAsZbTxwc8i7WLbyYc https://mastodon.sdf.org/media/4CtMd8MGwJiThhojZ8w