Not sure exactly what was the culprit or if it was a combination, but upon a fresh install and turning on integrated graphics all is well with the new drivers.
I feel at this point that I should turn off integrated graphics, as my Geekbench score has dropped about 1500 points from the fresh install to where I am now with the graphics card up and running; but I'm a bit scared to go back into BIOS and turn of integrated graphics after it was such an essential part of getting the install complete.. off to read some more before I make any hasty decisions
