Sirrus wrote:

The wierd thing is that even when I set it to 640x480 24bit (the max), I
still see the "bands" on everyones images.

    You never did say exactly what card you are using.
There are some cards that just are not that good and
a reasonable investment now could bring you a lot of
satisfaction. I had an old Paradise card before the
one I have now that was pure junk. It never did
perform like the specs stated it would.
    Assuming that your participation in USA.NET, puts
you in the US, then you can buy a card that will expand
your capabilities greatly for less that $60 dollars. The
Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 recently stopped being produced
and discount stores are selling them for almost half the
original price.
    While it is unlikely it may be a limitation of your
monitor itself. How old is it and can it operate in the
higher resolution modes. If it is older than say about
6 - 8 years it's time for and upgrade.
    I recently saw an Ad for a 15" svga monitor that
supports Multi-Synched resolutions up to 1200 x 1600
for $189 and that's the kind of monitor that can really
do graphics justice. 17-20" would be a dream come true
(sigh !) but is not necessary.

Ken Tyler