Systems and methods are disclosed for implementing a high performance decoder. In certain embodiments, an apparatus may comprise a decoder circuit configured to decode a codeword of bits, including: a check node processor configured to provide a plurality of check to variable (c2v) messages to a variable node processor in parallel, the plurality of c2v messages including log likelihood ratio (LLR) data related a parity sum of multiple bits of the codeword; the variable node processor configured to generate a decision vector based on the plurality of c2v messages; and a convergence checker circuit configured to determine whether the codeword has been decoded based on the decision vector and output decoded data when the codeword has been decoded.