Aurora R3, latest generation upgrades?

Most Aurora R1-R4 owners that did a mthrbrd swap don't document the how-to often, so info is scarce & probably relegated to the read-only archive section (linked) Aurora-R4, retail LGA 1151 motherboard, i7-8700k CPU I believe is the last active post here, companion post is hosted here Aurora R4 ALX case 8700k RTX 2080ti

Note you may want to post in that forum also Aurora subforum @Alien Owners

Ex. basic upgrade/swap Q&A New poster needs some input & install command center

R1 R2 R3 owners may wish to try the 5W6MX USB3.0 top I/O when the price is right, I payed $15 for my new spare, I'd pay $25 tops

For the front panel wiring, all Aurora R1-R4 have the below MSI pinout, which is not an industry standard but is seen adopted more & more; there's a chance it's plug & play w/new motherboards, but if not it needs to be solved (find front panel diagram in new mthrbrd PDF or paper manual & compare to factory case diagram)

I can't help w/your swap project so good luck

So i could just use the mi(o) board for the lighting/case power button,hddlight ect and the motherboard of what ever choice for the fans,HD storage and pump if  go aio liquid cooling? 

The mthrbrd front panel (header) is responsible for power on-off / HDD LED / Power on LED & Reset, not the MIO

MIO is used for case lights + cooling fans

MIO + mthrbrd tend to work as a necessary pair, for monitoring & output

Buy a decent aftrmrkt mthrbrd, good CPU AIO cooler, good HDD/SDD/NVME + GPU & try to have the J556T / W299G 875w power supply or swap in a decent aftrmrkt PSU

01YGW is the largest stock radiator offered for R1-R4 @ 38mm wide, typical Corsair 80i V2 is 49mm wide, base Aurora coolers are 27mm wide

Hand-made cooling adapters are here for non-Aurora (aftrmrkt) coolers

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edit: modern mthrbrds tend to have a CPU Fan header #1, #2, &/or CPU Pump header, they also have multiple Chassis Fan headers, so you can accomplish 'most' of what the MIO does using just those (use fan cable extensions if needed to reach); the Bios or fan control software bundled w/mthrbrd then allows full control of all case fans

It's best I think to patch the MIO into the system & let it do those fan duties through CmndCntr software, along with whatever else MIO does, but in the end MIO can be reduced to just case light LED duty & allow new mthrbrd to handle the rest --> if mthrbrd is allowed to handle all fan duties then the top lightstrip (& its headers) are not needed as well

Master I/O daughterboard is stored in the right side of case wall behind the PCI mid-fan & the battery shroud, below is one partially removed for testing

They control case LED lights, case fans, monitor cooling pump + radiator fan, temp sensors, ALX vent motor, switches, blu-tooth / Wi-Fi

CmndCntr is the software interface

Front panel USB ports (top external USB) is done through your mthrbrd USB2.0 headers; MIO is also a USB2.0 device that also works through a mthrbrd 2.0 header

The top powerboard lighting strip also plugs into MIO board for cooling / fans / interior theatre lights

So i could just use the mi board for the lighting/case power button,hddlight ect and the motherboard of what ever choice for the fans,HD storage and pump if  go aio liquid cooling?