An information handling system includes a first component including a transmitter for a high-speed serial data interface, and a second component including a receiver for the high-speed serial data interface. The receiver includes an equalization stage and a decision feedback equalization (DFE) stage. The equalization stage has an input to configure the equalization stage in one of a first low equalization state and a first high equalization state. The DFE stage has a plurality of tap inputs. The first component provides a plurality of training runs on the high-speed serial data interface. The second component receives the training runs, provides for each training run a set of tap settings for each tap input, determines whether or not a variation in the tap settings for the training runs is greater than a predetermined variation value, and, when the variation is greater than the predetermined variation value, sets the first input to configure the first equalization stage from the first low equalization state to the first high equalization state.