Umm, didn't I read somewhere that HLSL uses tri-linear or Ansioptropic filtering?
HLSL still looks the same goodness to me as from back in 0.143u1 when I first cemented my finely tuned settings. Now after using the HLSL filter there is no way I can go back to not using it.
I'll admit it can look like rubbish if not set correctly. There are certain nuances to how the settings effect the internal workings of this filter that you need to understand to get desired results. Took me a few days to get it playing nicely.