A memory management circuit manages frame data for a display system such as used in a projection television system or cellular phone. The frame data includes frames corresponding to a series of images for viewing by a user. The memory manager includes an input buffer to receive the frame data, a memory interface coupled to receive the frame data from the input buffer, and an output buffer coupled to receive the frame data from the memory interface and output the frame data to a display such as a liquid crystal (LCD) micro-display. The memory interface sends and receives the frame data as packets, with each packet having a size less than a full frame, to and from an external memory able to store at least one full frame of data.