1. A method for achieving independent access to memory that stores data in a graphics processing system, the method comprising: providing a plurality of memory banks for data; decoding signals that indicate accessing of at least one of the plurality of memory banks for a desired plurality of words of the data; splitting data access across the plurality of memory banks to allow parallel selection of an output from at least one of the plurality of memory banks as the desired plurality of words of the data, wherein latency of data access is amortized, including multiplexing first, second, third and fourth words of data in pairs from the plurality of memory banks, multiplexing the resulting selected first, second, third and fourth words from each of the pairs to provide the desired plurality of words of the data, and byte-swapping the first, second, third and fourth words before transferring the desired plurality of words of the data to a texture mapping unit.