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I've definitely had capacitors (and power transistors) fry on many a computer component. As for the pictures you've posted, that's merely dust, my friend. A capacitor that has actually blown will show much more debris, as the "can" actually ruptures and throws electrolyte and foil around itself as it dies.
The most massive meltdown I've ever seen on a motherboard was on a Tyan Tiger MPX (S2466) 2P Athlon MP board. Both CPU fans had ceased functioning for quite a while, and the CPUs finally burned themselves up. The resulting failure was quite impressive: the dead CPUs shorted the power rails coming from the voltage regulators, which then proceeded to blow the power transistors. The CPU sockets melted due to the heat from the CPUs, and the power transistors got so hot that they literally desoldered themselves from the board. Two of the power transistors were lying on the video card when I opened up the system.
Now *THAT* is failing with gusto!!
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