A decision feedback equalizer (DFE) has an inter symbol interference (ISI) loop and inter chip interference (ICI) loop. A buffer at the input of the DFE loop receives a (CCK based data rate) signal coming into the DFE, retains a predetermined number of chips from each incoming symbol and assists to meet timing requirements by chip management. An outgoing rate for the chips from the buffer may depend on the incoming rate and may be higher than the incoming rate by a known factor. A method of designing a configuration for the DFE takes into consideration the timing delay in the loops. The operation within the DFE loop is pipelined, and any latency due to the pipelining is handled at a CCK demodulator. A method for designing the DFE architecture and an article comprising a storage medium with instructions thereon for executing the method, are also disclosed.