A system, method and computer program product to store tag blocks in a tag buffer in order to provide early row-buffer miss detection, early page closing, and reductions in tag block transfers. A system comprises a tag buffer, a request buffer, and a memory controller. The request buffer stores a memory request having an associated tag. The memory controller compares the associated tag to a plurality of tags stored in the tag buffer and issues the memory request stored in the request buffer to either a memory cache or a main memory based on the comparison.