In some aspects, the present disclosure provides a method for managing data communication rates of a memory device. The method includes receiving an input/output (I/O) operation to be performed by the memory device, detecting a temperature of the memory device, and determining whether the detected temperature satisfies a threshold condition. The threshold condition is satisfied if the detected temperature is above a first temperature threshold or below a second temperature threshold. If the threshold condition is satisfied, selecting a gear from a plurality of gears based on a ranking of the plurality of gears at the detected temperature, wherein each gear of the plurality of gears correspond to a respective one of a plurality of data rates used by the memory device for performing I/O operations, and serving, to the memory device, the I/O operation with an indication to perform the I/O operation using the selected gear.