What is "Military" Class hardware?

[chazus]

I see a lot of motherboards touting "Military" Class hardware, and I was wondering if this is marketing, or actual specification standard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131821
"With the unique design & high quality components (military-standard)" in the description

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130646
"Military Class III components: Top quality & stability" is literally listed as a "Feature"

Now, I understand that equipment is often tested for military use, and has to undergo certain qualification to be considered 'milspec'. Does this extend to retail computer hardware?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Possibly indicates more stringent QA procedures, but it is mostly marketing.

[chazus]

Possibly indicates more stringent QA procedures, but it is mostly marketing.

Can I point out the irony of your saying it's mostly marketing, and you happen to have the exact board I linked? :P

[TaintedOne]

Can I point out the irony of your saying it's mostly marketing, and you happen to have the exact board I linked? :P

Asus offers a 5yr warranty on the sabertooth series over your standard 1-3yr warranty on other boards . Like he said its mostly marketing but there is some sort of advantage

[Stasis007]

The Department of Defense actually has sets of standards that hardware manufacturers have to comply with.

I don't think "Military Class" actually means anything in the commercial sector though. It's likely just a marketing label that is meant to represent a higher quality build.

[Cyanotical]

They may use DoD spec components, which is mainly higher temp and voltage capacities, as well as physical shock sustainability

But just because you are using mil spec capacitors does not mean the whole board is mil spec

[Kev2Tall]

This is right of the Z77 page, again solid marketing ploy, but hey maybe they had to start using stuff of this quality to be able to make it so we can overclock our components without other parts of the MB failing on us.

TUF Components (Choke, Cap. & MOSFET; Certified by Military-standard) Get rugged performance even in the most challenging conditions with robust TUF chokes, solid capacitors, and MOSFETs--certified through third-party, military-grade testing. TUF Chokes, also known as the “Alloy Choke”, is a made of a compound of various types of metal instead standard iron, enables the support of up to a massive 40A of rated current, 25% higher than conventional component. Furthermore, the single piece packaging also eliminates the emission of vibration noise, delivering superb characteristics as well as durability under extreme conditions.

[ImpTaimer]

Anything with camo on it.

[hellboyy]

Anything with camo on it.

perfect for urban warfare when the world goes to shit in a few months.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Can I point out the irony of your saying it's mostly marketing, and you happen to have the exact board I linked? :P

Try finding consumer electronics with a 5 year warranty nowadays

[lokii]

It's been a while since I have heard military quality. I can't remember the definition, but it usually covers one or more of the following issues:
Durability - self explanatory
Security - higher security/encryption to prevent data theft.
In some cases all components have to be made in America. No made in China stickers are allowed on some sensitve machines.

The only example I could think of right off the top of my head would be an Iron Key USB
Buying it to have the label though is a waste of money. The military has embraced COTS. (Current of the shelf technology). They are using a lot of the same hardware and software you are anyway so its worthless to buy into the label.

[Masark]

Looking closer, the MSI board claims compliance with MIL-STD-810G, meaning it passed at least one of the following tests

Test Method 500.5 Low Pressure (Altitude)
Test Method 501.5 High Temperature
Test Method 502.5 Low Temperature
Test Method 503.5 Temperature Shock
Test Method 504.1 Contamination by Fluids
Test Method 505.5 Solar Radiation (Sunshine)
Test Method 506.5 Rain
Test Method 507.5 Humidity
Test Method 508.6 Fungus
Test Method 509.5 Salt Fog
Test Method 510.5 Sand and Dust
Test Method 511.5 Explosive Atmosphere
Test Method 512.5 Immersion
Test Method 513.6 Acceleration
Test Method 514.6 Vibration
Test Method 515.6 Acoustic Noise
Test Method 516.6 Shock
Test Method 517.1 Pyroshock
Test Method 518.1 Acidic Atmosphere
Test Method 519.6 Gunfire Shock
Test Method 520.3 Temperature, Humidity, Vibration, and Altitude
Test Method 521.3 Icing/Freezing Rain
Test Method 522.1 Ballistic Shock
Test Method 523.3 Vibro-Acoustic/Temperature
Test Method 524 Freeze / Thaw
Test Method 525 Time Waveform Replication
Test Method 526 Rail Impact.
Test Method 527 Multi-Exciter
Test Method 528 Mechanical Vibrations of Shipboard Equipment

Obviously, some of those tests are really trivial for electronics to survive (e.g. a motherboard isn't likely going to care much about low air pressure) and they don't appear to specify exactly what tests were used.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Test Method 519.6 Gunfire Shock
Test Method 522.1 Ballistic Shock

I'm guessing this doesn't mean they test the board by shooting it?

[jaymzkerten]

The military has embraced COTS. (Current of the shelf technology).

It's actually Commercial off-the-Shelf, with the alternative being GotS (Government off-the-Shelf).

Also I'd love to see some hardware like this running around at my job, most of the equipment we deal with on a daily basis is PCs that are actually rather old (Dell GX 280/520/755 with no better than a C2D processor). Anything we actually have that is ruggedized is still an old PoS.

[JGeek]

It's all about marketing. They are not military class and have nothing to do with it. There are certain components that really are military class, but it's hard to find them and you'll not buy them anyway. They don't have to be able to handle lots of data processing, they have to be fully operational in dust/snow/wet/hot/cold surroundings