How should I overclock

[evti]

My new build is the following:

AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor
ASRock FM2A75 Pro4 ATX FM2 Motherboard
Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card
Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply
Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer

Since I am a noob at this stuff, I have no idea how to overclock. I can find generic instructions online, but since overclocking can potentially damage stuff, I wanted to maybe get some info specific to my setup.

I know there's an overclock utility in the motherboard setup, but I don't want to use it until I know what I'm doing. Also, would I need to get an aftermarket cooler for the CPU if I did this? Does overclocking shorten the life of your CPU significantly? Any info is appreciated

 

[wolfeking]

The asrock overclock program is useless. It sets BIOS, but it does not aply until reboot, which is 2 generations behind ASUS and Gigabyte's utilities.

Go into the bios, and move your multiplier up by 1. Then reboot and test with intel Burn Test (it will work on any processor), 10 runs at maximum setting. Watch your temps and watch that you don't BSOD. If it finishes the run, then do the same thing again. If it fails then bump the Vcore by one setting till it can complete the 10 runs. Do this until you have the OC you are looking for. Once you can complete 10 runs on IBT with your wanted OC, then download prime 95 and run it for 12 hours. If it passes that, then you have found your OC. It it fails, then you need more Vcore.