Embodiments described herein are operable in a computing system. The computing system receives first and second commands (e.g., I/O commands). The computing system determines that the first command has a higher priority than the second I/O command, and queues the second command for servicing at a later time. The computing system services the first command, and services the second command after a timeout period based on performance degradation limit that decreases command processing performance of the computing system, overrides the timeout period, and increases a probability of executing the second command.