Embodiments of the invention provide a command-oriented method to lower power consumption of PHY during idle time periods. The idle time periods occur because HBM Commands have certain timing windows where there is no data transmission on DFI data signals between the memory controller and the PHY data slice. These windows may be utilized to power down the PHY data slice data path through DFI signal handshaking. In contrast to the conventional low power mode, this method provides an advanced low power mode that can further reduce power consumption in different modes at each suitable idle time based on different command types.