X configuration

I've just put gentoo on my laptop, and I've funally got it working after
a tedious install from the 1.2 cds.  Right now, however, I cannot get X
configured correctly, it simply will not let me use anything higher than
8 bit color.  I've had both debian and mandrake on this machine, both
using 16 and 24 bit color, and working fine, so I know the hardware is
capable.  I am wondering if perhaps I should have turned on some USE
variable or something for graphics or video cards or something... I
really have no idea what is wrong... I'm using the ati driver for my
video card, which is, respectively, and ati card.  Any help would be
appreciated, I am really baffled on this one.

--mattgerg