So today I’m diving into a brand new Google Certified model from RockTek, the GX1. This little black box is quite the surprise, running on a Realtek chipset, specifically the RTD1325. It’s packing 4GB of DDR4 RAM and 32GB of internal storage, which is a pretty good start. What really caught my eye are features like AI PQ (AI Picture Quality), AI SR (AI Super Resolution), and QMS (Quick Media Switching). And because it’s Google Certified, you get the full-fledged Google TV experience, meaning it’s ready to play all your subscription movie streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and Max in glorious HD and 4K.
Design and Ports
Taking a closer look at the RockTek GX1 design, the outer shell is made of plastic, and it has the RockTek “RT” branding neatly on the top. It’s a simple, unobtrusive black square that should blend in with most entertainment setups.
For connectivity, on one side, you’ve got an HDMI 2.1 port, which is great for future-proofing. Next to it is an Ethernet LAN port – I’ll test its speeds later. There’s also an optical audio out, an AV port for older TVs, and the 12V DC input socket. On another side, for connecting storage, it offers two USB 2.0 ports.
One thing to note is the absence of an SD card reader, which some users might miss. The front features a subtle power LED strip that lights up blue when it’s on. Flipping it over, the base has four rubber feet to keep it from sliding around, but I didn’t see any ventilation holes, which is something I always look out for with these devices.
Specifications & Performance
Powering it on for the first time, you’re greeted by the RockTek splash screen. This is followed by a prompt to pair the Bluetooth remote; you just press and hold the back and home buttons for a few seconds, and it connects. After that, the standard Google TV first startup wizard kicks in. You go through language selection, Wi-Fi setup, and Google account sign-in. Once all that is done, you land on the Google TV launcher, which is clean and content-focused, just as you’d expect.
Digging into the firmware features, under the “About” section in settings, I confirmed it’s running Android 12 TV OS. The firmware build information is all there, and clicking on the build number a few times unlocks developer options, which is great for advanced users. It also clearly displays its Netflix ESN license, a crucial detail for ensuring proper Netflix playback.
For display capabilities, RockTek GX1 can output up to 4K at 4096 by 2160 pixels at 60Hz, which is impressive. In the video settings, I found options for HDR output mode, including an “Input” setting which seems to let the source dictate. Dolby Vision can be enabled or disabled. There’s an HDR Policy setting with options like “Always HDR” or “Adaptive HDR.” The “Adaptive HDR” feature, along with AI PQ (AI Picture Quality) and AI SR (AI Super Resolution for upscaling), really point to the AI enhancements RockTek is highlighting. Under Advanced Display Settings and then “Format Selection,” it shows support for Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG. It also mentions HDR10+ support if connected to a compatible TV, which my TCL TV here unfortunately doesn’t have for me to test that specific format.
On the audio front, you get several output selections. You can choose “Auto,” “Stereo LPCM 2ch,” “S/PDIF (Bitstream),” or “Passthrough.” This box features Dolby MS12, which means it can decode a wide range of surround sound audio formats. You can either let it automatically handle formats with the “MAT” option or specifically select Dolby Digital Plus/Dolby Atmos. Under the “Dolby Audio Settings,” there’s an option for “HDMI Audio Caps.” I found that for proper passthrough of Dolby and DTS formats from self-hosted videos to my Sony 7.1 AV receiver, I needed to enable this “HDMI Audio Caps” option.
Using AIDA64 to get a deeper look at the hardware, the manufacturer of the chipset is indeed Realtek, and it’s the RTD1325 board. It’s running on 4GB of DDR4 RAM (shows as 3917 MB total, with 2558 MB available at the time of checking) and 32GB of internal storage (shows as 26.24 GB total, with 21.43 GB free). Bluetooth version is 5.2. The CPU is the Realtek RTD1325, a quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 processor clocked at 1.7 GHz, but interestingly, AIDA64 reports it configured in 32-bit mode.
The display is powered by the Mali-G57 GPU, supporting OpenGL ES version 3.2. For networking, it’s a Wi-Fi 6 AX model, supporting both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The Android operating system is confirmed as Android 12 (Snow Cone), and the firmware is not rooted. Under “Devices,” AIDA64 shows no Vulkan GPU support, which is a bit of a downer for some high-end Android gaming. The thermal sensor appears to be disabled or giving a frozen result, consistently showing 31.0°C. For audio and video decoders, it’s well-equipped, listing support for Dolby Atmos, EAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus), DTS HD, AV1, HEVC, and Dolby Vision.
As mentioned, the RockTek GX1 is fully Google certified. Checking with DRM Info, it confirms Google Widevine Level 1 and HDCP 2.2 protection. This is essential for streaming services like Netflix in their highest quality. The device is also not rooted, as confirmed by the Root Checker app, which further ensures compatibility with protected streaming apps that might block rooted devices.
So, I logged into my Netflix account. With Dolby Vision enabled in the display settings, movie descriptions clearly show “4K Dolby Vision” and “Dolby Atmos” tags, which is exactly what you want to see. Playback was smooth and looked fantastic. Moving over to YouTube, I was able to select 4K 2160p resolution with HDR, and the videos played back beautifully.
Being Google Certified, it comes fully equipped with Google Assistant. I tested it with a few voice commands. “Hey Google, office off,” and it correctly understood and offered to turn off my smart office lights. “Hey Google, office on,” and the lights came back on. “Open the Google Play Store,” and it launched the store without a hitch. The voice recognition through the remote was responsive.
For my self-hosted 4K video collection, the GX1 handled everything I threw at it. I played a 4K HDR10 demo, an AV1 8K HDR video (downscaled, of course, but played smoothly), a Dolby Vision 4K 60fps test video, another Dolby Vision UHD file, and an HDR10+ PB EAC3 JOC MKV. All of them played back perfectly, triggering the correct HDR formats on my TV. An LG Cymatic Jazz HLG HDR demo also played flawlessly.
When it comes to surround sound audio passthrough, RockTek GX1 is a champ. After enabling that “HDMI Audio Caps” setting I mentioned earlier, my Sony AV receiver correctly displayed Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD Master Audio, Dolby Surround, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-X from various test files. Even a Netflix movie with Dolby Atmos audio was correctly passed through and decoded by the receiver.
Gaming Test
For Android gaming, the lack of Vulkan support means you might not get the absolute best performance in the very latest, most demanding titles. However, games listed in the Google TV Play Store, and even some sideloaded ones, played surprisingly well.
I tried Asphalt 8, and while not the most graphically intensive game by today’s standards, it was smooth. Dead Effect 2, another popular title, also ran well. I then pushed it with Shadowgun Legends, setting the graphics to Ultra at 60Hz. Here, the AI technology RockTek talks about seemed to come into play. While an Allwinner chipset would likely struggle or even fail to start this game at these settings, the RockTek GX1 managed to render it. I suspect the AI is dynamically adjusting things to maintain playability, which is quite clever.
Benchmarks Scors
Now for some benchmarks. The RAM copy speed was an impressive 2980.22 MB/s. The internal storage read speed was 174.73 MB/s, and the write speed was 104 MB/s, which are decent speeds.
Network speed tests were interesting. On my 315 Mbps internet connection, the 5GHz Wi-Fi band maxed it out, achieving 314 Mbps. The 2.4GHz band averaged around 203 Mbps, which is also quite good for that band. The Ethernet LAN port, however, topped out around 94.1 Mbps, indicating it’s a 10/100 LAN port, not Gigabit. This is a bit of a letdown for users who prefer wired connections for maximum speed.
In Geekbench 5, the CPU scored 134 for single-core and 469 for multi-core. While these raw scores might seem low compared to some 64-bit octa-core CPUs, if you look at the detailed breakdown in AIDA64, you can see AI-related tasks like ray tracing getting decent scores, suggesting the chipset is optimized differently.
For GPU graphics rendering in 3DMark, it couldn’t qualify for the standard Wild Life test. It only supported the older Sling Shot test, where it scored 980. The average FPS here was 5.11, which is higher than many boxes in its class that I’ve tested on this specific benchmark.
In the AnTuTu benchmark, it qualified for the latest version, V10.4.8, and scored 126,764. This is noteworthy because many older or less capable chipsets (like the Allwinner models) can’t even run this new version.
Conclusion
What RockTek has achieved with this box is genuinely exciting. It seems to pave the way for a new line of high-performance boxes that leverage AI technology to optimize and improve chipset performance beyond raw specs. I highly recommend it as one of the best budget Google Certified models out there right now. It’s packed with all the premium licenses and decoders you need for streaming services in HD and 4K, and its AI-enhanced Android gaming performance is surprisingly decent. Plus, it allows sideloading and is very affordable, coming in at under $100. If you’re interested, you can find it on AliExpress.
Here’s a quick rundown of what I liked and what could be better:
PROS:
- It’s running on the Realtek RTD1325 4x A55 CPU with a Mali G57 GPU.
- The AISR/AIPQ AI upscaling and graphics performance really do seem to make a difference.
- You get Android 12 TV OS, which is a smooth and modern interface.
- Crucially, it has the Netflix ESN license and Google Widevine Level 1 / HDCP 2.2 for premium streaming.
- Sideloading apps and games is allowed.
- It’s not rooted and comes with no malware, which is great for security and app compatibility.
- It handles 4K HDR, AV1, and Dolby Vision content from both Netflix and self-hosted videos.
- Auto framerate switching is a welcome feature for smooth video playback.
- Excellent surround sound support: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Surround, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD Master Audio, and DTS-X all work.
- The benchmarks, especially considering the AI optimizations, are good for its class.
- Wi-Fi speeds are very good on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
- The Bluetooth remote comes with Google Assistant.
- It has built-in Chromecast functionality.
- AI-assisted 3D gaming provides a decent experience even without Vulkan.
- The design is attractive and compact.
CONS:
- The firmware is 32-bit only, which might limit some very specific high-end applications or future compatibility, though for media streaming, it’s fine.
- There’s no Vulkan GPU support, which will affect performance in some cutting-edge Android games.
- The LAN port is not Gigabit, capping wired speeds at around 100 Mbps.
