Techniques for designing a switchable amplifier are described. In one aspect, a switchable amplifier including a core amplifier circuit configured to selectively enable one or more parallel input transistor pairs is described. The core amplifier circuit comprises a permanently enabled input transistor pair. In another aspect, a device operable between a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation comprising a receiver logic circuit for selectably enabling and disabling a plurality of input transistor pairs within a switchable amplifier is described where the switchable amplifier also includes a core amplifier circuit coupled to the receiver logic circuit for selectably enabling and disabling a transistor pair therein. The described switchable amplifiers result in the ability to provide varying amplifier performance characteristics based upon the current mode of operation of the device.