A snoop look-up operation is performed in a system having a first cache and a first processor. The first processor generates access requests to the first cache for data. Snoop look-up operations are performed in the cache. The snoop look-up operations are based on snoop requests from a snoop queue. The snoop requests correspond to entries in the snoop queue. An access request from the first processor is performed in response to a consecutive number of snoop look-up operations exceeding a first limit. This is useful in avoiding having no processor operations while performing snoop look-up operations. Similarly, consecutive access requests can be counted and if a second limit is exceeded, a snoop look-up operation can be performed.