Budget solid-state drives make up a big chunk of the storage market, but cheaper products mean smaller margins. As a result, drive makers are constantly on the prowl for ways to cut costs and eke out a little more profit. One of the most straightforward ways to trim the fat is simply to store a third bit per flash cell, making triple-level-cell, or TLC, flash.

Samsung first introduced the world to triple-level cell NAND flash in 2012 with its 840 Series solid-state drives. TLC's debut was met with skepticism from enthusiasts, since many folks expected the increased data density would lead to poorer performance and endurance than single- and multi-level-cell-based drives. As it turned out, TLC flash offered solid performance for the mass market, and we proved that concerns about endurance were largely unfounded.

After Samsung's widespread success with the new technology, other drive makers started producing TLC offerings of their own. This year, both OCZ and Crucial brought new low-cost SSDs to market. OCZ's Trion 100 and Crucial's BX200 SSDs occupy the lowest-end slots in these firms' solid-state storage lineups. These two drives represent their makers' first forays into TLC flash, and both companies happen to offer a 480GB model. Since these SSDs are so similar on so many levels, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to perform a shootout-style review. Let's get up close and personal with the contenders.