hi i have a custom pentium 4 pc that i built from scratch.Here are the specs on it.

pc chips m920 motherboard socket 423
423 to 478 cpu bridge
intel pentium 4 2.4 ghz 400/533 FSB processor
tt boy thermal take 2500-6500 rpm adjustable speed processor fan w/ tt boy thermal take heatsink
3- 80 mm case fans
768 pny pc133 ram (yeah i know its a little outdated)1 512 mb and 1 256 mb chips
ati radeon 7000 32 mb agp video card
creative labs sounblaster live card
dlink ethernet card
1-western digital 40 gb hard drive
1-maxtor 60 gb hard drive
1-western digital 10k rpm 9 gb scsi hard drive
adaptec pro scsi controller card
firewire pci card
lite on dvd rom drive
lite on cdrw drive
operating system windows xp pro completely updated
zone alarm pro 7.0 firewall
avast professional 4.7 anti virus

think that about sums it up .problem is when operating video (movies ,shows etc) and playing video games or running various programs the processor temperature spikes by 40-50 degrees.Also idle temp is 116 degrees f on the processor.I just installed 2 more fans on the front of the case and installed new thermal compound to heatsink.Also cleaned everything very well .Temp before i did that was idle at 160 degrees and would spike out at 210-220 degrees,so i brought the temp down alot.But still believe its running way to hot .i mean when i first built it ,it didnt go over 67-78 degrees ever.Any ideas? Do you think my processor is shot ?Any input on this would greatly be appreciated.

Pentium fours are known for running hot.Also check the heat sink temperature with the touch test if you cant touch it for over 3 seconds its too hot and if you can but the temperature says its very hot then i would check the heat sink for inperfections(curvature).

Welcome to the PCHF sraley,

Athlon is right - P4's were known for being hot...

But if your computer used to run at lower temps, and now is not - there is a problem.
Have you tried over clocking recently? Do you notice any crashes (in games or windows)?

athlon if i touch heatsink for 1 sec it will burn my finger i know this cause i did it .garhar it crashes when starting up any games with any kind of graphics,and crashes watching avi movies.i must add the last time i tore it all down and cleaned everything i had a friend who knows not much about pcs install my ram and he knocked the plug to my processor fan off,i did not know this and i ran it for about 10 minutes off and on due to it kept locking up .I finnally relized i did not hear the fan running ,shut it down and fixed the problem ,due you think it was to late ?Altho this problem was occuring before that happened.hope this helps out ,all i can add is i thought it was a bad video card so i installed a different one and problem still exists.used to run a nvidia tnt riva 64 32 mb .

If you were running the computer for 10 minutes while your fan was running, I'd personally say the CPU is fried and you'll need a new one

oh yes and thank you for the greeting to PCHF GaRHaR and AMDAthlon64X2 and thank you for any help that is given ,it is greatly appreciated.

was not 10 minutes straight ,it wouldnt run that long ,has thermal protection built in motherboard shuts pc off when it gets hot ,but that is what i am looking towards also GaRHaR ,Thanks for the help .