Well there does appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel.
If for no other reason than to just help people out who may be going throught the same ordeal, i'll document this as best I can while im having the probs.
Unfortunately Win98 isnt an option for me as im already running a dual OS with Linux (and secondly thats a lot of effort when i havent exhausted all my options yet).
I installed and got MOHAA running successfully tonight, a (brilliant) game that also had issues with my current configuration prior to me upgrading the driver situation for that card (if you're wondering which card see my post above).
This makes me wonder whether i need to uninstall SOF2 - Double Helix and reinstall it (to let it have another think about the configuration that is now on my PC). Someone feel free to set me straight on this if i'm talking total crap.
Either way, i made the driver changes while the game was installed, so that'll be my next point of testing.
Will let you know if i manage to break this issue at any time.