Embodiments of the invention relate to techniques for automatic degradation testing of a high-speed serial receiver. A transmitter manipulator couples to a transmitter of a serial interface circuit. The transmitter is coupled to the receiver of the serial interface circuit. The transmitter manipulator includes a storage to store one of current compensation values or impedance compensation values and sequencing logic to dynamically sequence the one of the current compensation values or impedance compensation values to the transmitter. The transmitter responsive to the dynamically sequenced one of the current or impedance compensation values generates a degraded test pattern signal to transmit to the receiver in order to test the receiver.