A wireline communications system is described. The wireline communications system includes a printed circuit board (PCB). The wireline communications system also includes a system on chip (SoC) die on the PCB. The wireline communications system further includes an external memory device coupled to a memory interface of the SoC die. The external memory device is coupled to the memory interface of the SoC die through a PCB trace. A length of the PCB trace is configured according to an operating speed of the memory interface.