A memory system for operation with a processor, such as a digital signal processor, includes a high speed pipelined memory, a store buffer for holding store access requests from the processor, a load buffer for holding load access requests from the processor, and a memory control unit for processing access requests from the processor, from the store buffer and from the load buffer. The memory control unit may include prioritization logic for selecting access requests in accordance with a priority scheme and bank conflict logic for detecting and handling conflicts between access requests. The pipelined memory may be configured to output two load results per clock cycle at very high speed.