Buffering of associative operations on random memory addresses

A system, a method, and computer program product for performing buffering operations. A data update is received at a buffering location. The buffering location includes a first buffer portion and a second buffer portion. The data update includes an address tag. The buffering location is communicatively coupled to a memory location configured to receive the data update. A target address of the data update in the memory location is determined using the first buffer portion and compared to the address tag. The data update is applied using the first buffer portion to update data in the first buffer portion upon determination that the target address matches the address tag. The target address of the data update is pre-fetched from the memory location upon determination that the target address does not match the address tag. The first and second buffer portions buffer the data update using the pre-fetched target address.