A microprocessor having an instruction queue capable of out-of-order instruction dispatch and efficiently detect full conditions is disclosed. The microprocessor may comprise a plurality of instruction execution pipelines, an instruction cache, and an instruction queue coupled to the instruction cache and execution pipelines. The instruction queue may comprise a plurality of instruction storage locations and may be configured to output up to a predetermined number of non-sequential out of order instructions per clock cycle. The microprocessor may be further configured with high speed control logic coupled to the instruction queue. Instead of determining exactly how many empty storage locations are present in the queue, the control logic may be configured to determine whether the number of non-overlapping strings of empty storage locations is greater than or equal to the number of estimated instructions currently on their way to being stored in the instruction queue. A data queue and method for managing a queue are also disclosed, as is a computer system utilizing the above-mentioned microprocessor.