A system for saving the architectural state of a processor is described. The system performs a save state operation, which involves, for each sector in a set of sectors of the architectural state, determining whether the architectural state for the sector has already been saved to a memory, and saving the architectural state for the sector to the memory when the architectural state for the sector has not already been saved to the memory. Each sector in the set of sectors comprises a different and separate portion of the architectural state of the processor. The system determines whether the architectural state for a given sector has already been saved to the memory by checking a needs-rinsing flag for the given sector. The needs-rinsing flag for the given sector is asserted upon modifying the given sector and cleared following the save state operation.