Maximum PC

For the first time in six years, I opened my computer case to clean away the dust. There's so much dust in the PSU fan, I had it to unscrew the PSU to clean it. Two of the capacitors in my power supply unit have leaked, a couple more are bulging, and yet the computer is still working fine. I don't game anymore, just browse & watch movies, but I intend to have this power supply replaced ASAP in order not to risk the capacitors bursting and whatnot.

My Gigabyte motherboard is also 6 years old. The capacitors look like this: http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/111/t ... erview.htm It's solid polymer capacitors, the same kind that most good motherboards use these days. Because these capacitors don't use electrolyte, it is said to be immune to leakage/bursting. And yet, I understand that nothing lasts forever, and these capacitors only have a longer lifetime than the typical electrolyte capacitor. So, if my motherboard capacitors still look as good as new, with no visible sign of leakage or bursting, how do I know whether it's still okay or not?

I don't think you can. The only indication of failure is checking the equivalent series resistance, but this is more or less a manufacturing flaw.

So there is no easy way (just by looking, no specific tools required) for checking signs of wear?

Personally I would not run that pc until you replace that PSU! If the PSU dies all the way it can take out the whole PC, motherboard and all. As for the capacitors on the motherboard, don't worry about them at all...they weren't kidding about lifetime warranty.

Nasty

Electronics have a tendency to either work wonderfully or blow up catastrophically. Other than batteries, I haven't seen or heard of any electronic component that gradually wears out over time. I mean, hell, we have NES's that are still running, and no doubt they use electrolytic caps.

Yeah, there's that as well. I guess there's some sort of tolerance built in that allows the electronic device to work fine even if a couple of capacitors have leaked. If the capacitors won't burst, the worst thing that can happen is the device will be less power-efficient as the damaged but still functioning capacitors draw more electricity.

But I think I will play it safe and replace the PSU. Besides, this old PSU uses 2 of those 80mm fans, which are rather noisy compared to a single 120mm fan.

Lifetime warranty?

I think Gigabyte has only 5 years warranty max. I don't think Asus or Msi offers a longer warranty either.

No, The manufacture of the caps.

Nasty

How is this lifetime warranty going to be implemented, considering that the motherboard only has 5 years warranty max?

Also, Gigabyte explicitly writes on the box that these solid caps are rated for 50,000* hours of usage.

* that's nearly 6 years if you switch on your computer 24/7.
365 X 6 X 24 = 52 560

Lifetime can either mean until the part breaks, or until the life of the product is done. They're never quite clear.