Further update; returned the Nvidia GT 610 card as I could not get sound out of HDMI, did a re-install (10.04) off the DVD, but the graphics are still not working correctly.
I believe the issue is with the "Radeon HD 7000-series graphics (DX11) integrated with the APU" which is part of my mobo, no matter what I try I cannot get the system graphics correct so this must be the issue. I have the "fglrx* drivers installed on my system, but maybe the HD 7000 is not supported. Just wanted to keep this up to date in case someone else has this hardware.
I've searched on adding the correct driver, and I tried what is illustrated on this page;
http://ubuntuxtreme.com/news/amd-catalyst-13-2-beta-3-driver-up-to-300-performance/but no dice, I'll keep hunting and report back if I meet with success