The receiver equalizes and recovers incoming serial data and de-serializes the data stream into selectable 32/40/64 bit-wide data bus. The transmitter, similarly, serializes selectable 32/40/64 bit-wide data bus and drives the serialized data off-chip with built-in adjustable de-emphasis (FFE). SerDes includes the physical media attachment layer (PMA) which is implemented as a hard macro and the physical coding sub-layer (PCS) which may be licensed separately through GUC or its 3rd party partners.