Good Webcam?

[d1sc g0lf3r]

I recently bought a Logitech QuickCam Messenger webcam but I returned it because the quality of the picture was very grainy. I talked to a couple of the employees at Best Buy and they said that all of the webcams were grainy like that. I have a friend that lives in Michigan and we wanted to use them for chatting together. He has an Intel webcam which is no longer in production and the picture quality is crystal clear, so I know there has to be one out there with that same kind of quality. Do you have a webcam that you can recommend? I am not really looking to spend more than around $50 and I do not need a built in mic (If it has one that is fine though) Here are my system specs:

Asus A7N8X MoBo
AMD XP 2700+
1 gig of Crucial PC2700
Abit Geforce 4 ti4200 128MB 8x AGP
Soundblaster Live 5.1
Windows XP Pro

[HeadBand]

probly if you can find a cam with 640x480 resolution that will work best also if you can adjust the clarity with a dial around the lens

but i still think theres no such thing as a crystal clear webcam

[d1sc g0lf3r]

The QuickCam Messenger is 640x480 and I played around with the settings and the zoom with no luck. I swear my friends picture quality is incredible and he said it was a cheap webcam when he bought it.