Replace all the caps.

Antec (in my experience) has good power supply design and absolutely terrible cap selection.

Looks like the stuff on the middle cap is a little bit of both. The pop/hiss you heard was definitely a cap bursting and depressurizing.

As above; replace all caps, the ones looking good to the eye too, and clean the PCB from any electrolyte spill, before using the PSU again.

CkRtech wrote:

Replace all the caps.

Antec (in my experience) has good power supply design and absolutely terrible cap selection.

Same here. I don't buy Antec anymore if I can help it just because of their crap caps.

maximus wrote:

This is the inside of an Antec SL350. A couple of the capacitors are bulging, and the one in the middle has some yellow stuff on […]
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This is the inside of an Antec SL350. A couple of the capacitors are bulging, and the one in the middle has some yellow stuff on it. Is the middle capacitor leaking, or is that just glue?

Here's why I'm asking:

A few days ago, I fired up a machine that I hadn't used for a few years. A second after the system posted, I heard what sounded like a pop followed by a hiss. I assumed a capacitor had blown, so I shut the system off, opened the case and sniffed around for smoke, but didn't smell anything. On closer examination, I found that all the motherboard capacitors appeared to be fine.

The system still runs, and I was able to install Window 98 without issue. However, to be on the safe side, I tore the machine down today and opened up the power supply. That pop and hiss was really suspicious, and I'm thinking the middle capacitor might be the culprit. I'm no power supply expert, though, so I'm never sure what I'm seeing when I look inside these things.

The bulging caps are enough to make me think this unit needs replacing, but I'm curious if the middle capacitor could have blown up and made the noise I heard.

Those are Fuhjyyu caps. They're inherently unreliable, even if they look okay, even if the PSU is new. Please replace them all.

The green cap on the right is definitely popped. Usually there is no need to replace them all if you can test them, but generally people dont have that kind of tool. The brown bubbly thing on the cap is probably glue. Electrolyte wont change its color.

I need to agree with the others. It is blown and i would't trust this PSU anymore. Better buy a new one, rather than taking the risk and putting it back in. On another run it could maybe also damage the Motherboard.
Hope i was able to help you!

Again, those are Fuhjyyu caps. They effectively have no safe service life and need to be replaced for that PSU to deliver clean, reliable power. Fuhjyyu caps are also known to test bad without any bulging or leakage, so don't assume anything based on appearances.

cyclone3d wrote:

CkRtech wrote:

Replace all the caps.

Antec (in my experience) has good power supply design and absolutely terrible cap selection.

Same here. I don't buy Antec anymore if I can help it just because of their crap caps.

I agree. I once had two Antec power supplies and only one of them survived, the one that happened to survived is lucky enough to have good caps, but it has dead fans so it's waiting for a fan replacement. The habit of opening up power supplies to check their capacitors does pay off. I found out that my Dell Optiplex GX520 has some bulged capacitors inside its power supply, so I got it replaced and now my worries are over.

If I ever do come across of anything with Fuhjyyu brand capacitors, I will treat it like it needs capacitor replacement.