Это попробуй
$vipc = mysql_result(mysql_query('select count(`id`) from `users` where `vip` > "'.time().'"'),0);
if($vipc > 0){
echo '<div class="menu">VIP жители <a href="'.$HOME.'/user/vip.php"><span class="cont">Что это?</span></a></div>';
echo '<div class="new"><table width="100%" align="center"><tr width="100%" align="center">';
$sql = mysql_query('select * from `users` where `vip` > "'.time().'" ORDER BY rand() LIMIT 3');
while($a = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql)){
echo '<td width="30%" align="center">';
echo (empty($a['avatar'])?'<a href="'.$HOME.'/user_'.$a['id'].'"><img src="files/ava/net.png" alt="*" width="40" height="40"></a>':'<a href="'.$HOME.'/user_'.$a['id'].'"><img src="files/ava/'.$a['avatar'].'" alt="*" width="40" height="40"></a>');
echo '</td>';
}
echo '</tr></table></div>';
}