I have a similar problem.

I have an Area 51 and I want to upgrade the mobo as well because my middle dim of my RAM slots has failed. 

I also have a LGA 1366: i7 960. -- Water Cooling pump failed and leaked all over my mobo.

Now my thing is unless you have personally spoken to an Alienware Rep about the mobo switching and losing the lighting I don't think this will happen.

From what I can tell and see -- unless the Aurora is that different from the Area 51. In my case there is a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) that has a slew of wires surrounding it and I believe that is what handles the case lighting. Actually I'm more than sure because there is a lot of writing on it that leads me to believe so.

With that being said I know the Aurora isn't as big as the Area 51, I believe they use Micro ATX mobos for this case. If that is the matter here and  you can only use a Micro ATX, that would suck. 

Again with that being said. I have recently called Dell and asked about buying a replacement mobo, and while it could just be that, since they discontinued the Area-51 line, whatever stock they have on parts is highly over priced.

For their proprietary mobo it was $729. Which  I can buy the best 1366 mobo and have money over to buy an SSD or two.

Don't go with Dell. 

Wait for another reply and see if in fact that if you switch the mobo you will lose the lighting, which I can guarantee you shouldn't. I should be replacing my own mobo in a while myself. I was actually going to ask a former professor of mine if he could assist me with this and if there need be any modifications I can ask around or get help.

I hope you understand my ramblings but I stepped out the room in the middle of writing this and lost though. I should be doing homework, but I actually wanted to get a few answers myself on this forum.

So no one knows about upgrading the moth board from a 1366 to a 2011?

For Area-51:

Search the forums. People have install after-market motherboards in Area-51s. If you want the MIO-Board to work, you will have to hack the MIO power connector (must know how to solder and use a meter). It may or may not comm over new MB's USB-1 ... you just have to try it.

You can also swap the power supply (and the harness) but you have to watch size.

I think one person settled for the MIO-Board running it's last loaded program so the light where whatever color permanently. No CommandCenter loaded. Then, they installed a multi-fan after-market fan controller.

You are going to go through a lot of trouble to keep that case, but it should work if you are a good at mods.

For Aurora:

If you have a 920 and x58 motherboard, ... that's a R1. You also must have the optional 875w PS.

The Aurora R4 MB should fit, but obviously, no one has tried it yet. You would need the MB, processor, and RAM.

Unless the Aurora was an expensive ALX model, the economics of the upgrade are not like that of an Area-51.

Your best bet ... while the Aurora is working ... keep it together and sell it cheap (or move to lesser role). Then, buy basic (non-ALX) R4. Most Dell spare parts (at least large expensive ones) are very expensive.

I have a similar system as the OP with only 12 gigs of memory and the only thing I've did is upgrade the graphics card.  I still haven't had any problems with my processor or memory.  The only reason I'm getting a new PC is family is in need of one so I"m giving them this one.  Have you tried overclocking your 920 yet?  I would suggest just updating the video card at first (just got a GTX 570 HD installed) and see what you think about that improvement and then if you are still not happy going to the next.  Might I suggest after reading many reviews of the 3930 and the new sandy e bridges that a 2600K is the better hyperthreading choice for overclocking if you are going to do that....or just waiting until the next set of processors come out.....seriously after putting the new video card in my system runs solid.  Also I would like to suggest if you don't do it to clean out the dust in your system.  I was getting high temps and some slow down and that fixed a ton of it.  

Some good responses, I wanted to be able to utilize the newer technology such as USB 3.0, SATA III, and hexacore. I could go with OC'ing my 920, and changing the graphics card, but I would still have the older technology. Something to think about.

If all your doing is gaming, save your cash. Overclock the 920 to 4.3GHz sell the 295 and buy a 590.

I understand the want the new technology but remember to take advantage of it you would need components that can use the new technology of course I also understand the want for 3.0 as well.  

Yes Damien, I have some USB 3.0 drives, looking to get a NAS, and have a Intel SSD. I would get the native capable speeds from these devices by moving up. A better option may be to move to an R3 board with a 2600K CPU, that would be less than $500 with no problems of compatibility with my current rig.

That would give the newer technology, faster processing, and at a lower price point. This may be my best option, thoughts?

You can get a USB 3.0 PCIe card for $25.