Systems and methods of writing data to a buffer during a buffer cycle are described. The buffer has a plurality of buffer banks having various fill levels. The buffer determines a first portion of banks from the plurality of buffer banks. The first portion of banks unfilled banks. A rank can be assigned to each of the first portion of banks and a candidate set of banks chosen from the first portion of banks. A target bank is then chosen from the candidate set and the data is written to that bank. The ranking may be random. Furthermore, the target bank can be chosen based on ranking, fill level, or both.