The receiver PLL provides eight clock phases to the DPA circuitry. The eight clock phases are separated by 45 degrees and at a frequency equal to the serial data rate. After power-up or reset, the DPA circuitry selects an optimum clock phase out of these eight clock phases to sample the received data. The DPA circuitry does not require a fixed training pattern to select the optimum phase. After power up or reset, the DPA circuitry relies on transitions on the received data to select the optimum phase.