An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for regulating the number of write requests in a fixed-size cache that facilitates differentiated treatment of write requests based on an assigned pacing value. The apparatus includes an examination module to examine a pending write request issued by an application. A priority module determines a priority for the write request based on an operating system defined input/output priority value. An assessment module assesses a storage demand level for storing write requests in a fixed-size cache. An assignment module assigns a pacing value to the write request based on the priority and in response to the storage demand level. A permission module permits the application to issue a subsequent write request once the pacing value of the write request is satisfied. The pacing value is satisfied by waiting until the amount of time specified by the pacing value expires.