In a communication device using a plurality of signal enhancement mechanisms, a system and method are provided for managing signal processing power consumption. A receiver accepts a communications signal and analyzes signal integrity. In response to analyzing the signal integrity, a signal enhancement mechanism is changed, and device power consumption is modified in response to changing the signal enhancement mechanism. In one aspect, the receiver changes a receiver signal enhancement mechanism, and modifies its power consumption. For example, one or more of the following receiver signal enhancement mechanisms may be selected: forward error correction (FEC), equalization, dc voltage level, and physical coding sublayer (PCS).