Well I tried it at 600x 480 and it had definately changed and looked awful so I guess it must have worked! Now playing at 1280 x 1024 with AA set to 32x and it is looking superb, hard to believe it's 5 years old.
Slowly getting to grips with it all, the guides on the forum have been really useful so thanks to anyone who has had anything to do with them.
Happy hunting
!