A system comprises a forward error correction decoder comprising syndrome computation circuitry, key-equation solver circuitry, and search and evaluator circuitry. The syndrome computation circuitry may comprise a plurality of syndrome compute units connected in parallel. The syndrome computation circuitry may be dynamically configurable to vary a quantity of the syndrome compute units used for processing of a codeword based on conditions of a channel over which the codeword was received. The syndrome computation circuitry may be operable to use a first quantity of the syndrome compute units for processing of a first codeword received over the channel when the channel is characterized by a first bit error rate and a second quantity of the syndrome compute units for processing of a second codeword received over the channel when the channel is characterized by a second bit error rate.