Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for handling memory refresh and maintenance operations for graphics and other applications. In particular, refresh and memory operations are executed in two stages. A first stage includes, but is not limited to, memory channel temperature calibration, RAC auto current calibration, and RAC auto temperature calibration. First stage operations are scheduled when the primary display is not requesting data from memory, such as when the display is in its vertical blanking interval. A second stage includes, but is not limited to, memory refreshes and memory current calibration. These operations are scheduled when there are no display streams (primary and secondary) or when display is requesting in a low priority mode.