Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to determining that a memory access request results in a cache miss and determining an amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within a past period in response to determining that the memory access request results in the cache miss. Some embodiments are further directed to determining that servicing the memory access request would increase the amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within the past period to exceed a threshold. In some embodiments, the threshold corresponds to reservation of a given amount of cache resources for potential cache hits. Some embodiments are further directed to rejecting the memory access request in response to the determining that servicing the memory access request would increase the amount of cache resources used to service cache misses within the past period to exceed the threshold.