A method for limiting power consumption in a multiprocessor chip is provided. In this method, a read or write request is received by the memory controller, which controls a memory that is external to the multiprocessor chip. The memory controller includes a bank counter that keeps track of the number of read or write requests received by the memory controller. At every clock cycle, the bank counter value is compared with a threshold value to determine whether the counter value is equal to the threshold value. If the bank counter value is determined to be equal to the threshold value, then any subsequent incoming read or write requests are blocked. The bank counter value is incremented each time a read or write request is sent to the memory.