Beelink GT King II 64bit 💀 – Beast of a TV Box

Beelink GT King II TV Box Review

So the Beelink GT King II has been released, and it was like releasing a beast out of its cage. With the latest Amlogic A311D2 64bit Octa-Core CPU clocked at 2.2 GHz, and with 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of internal storage this latest SOC provides superior gaming performance. Beelink one of the base names in the TV Box industry, was thought to be out of the TV Box business seeing that they were releasing so many mini-PC models.

However, this model proves that they were just waiting for the right high-end hardware to release their next model. This model runs on the Android 11 TV OS hybrid firmware, where its core operating system is Android TV OS and incorporates features from the mobile version such as navigation bar status bar and the signature Beelink launcher.

Now I would like you to take that with a pinch of salt because as much as its power is impressive taking the number two spot on my TV Box ranking chart, its firmware is far from complete as its first release has some major issues that they need to fix via firmware updates. In this review, I discovered issues in the area of surround sound audio, 64bit compatibility with sideloaded 64bit Android games, and even an issue with the navigation bar recent apps feature.

However, is not permanent as the Beelink is one of the companies that constantly developing updates for their models and would soon address these issues.

Buy Beelink GT King II US $168.61

Beelink GT King II-Under the hood

Well for starters its SOC as the most powerful Amlogic APU to date and that is the 64bit ARM Amlogic A311D2 Octa-Core processor comprising of a quad-core cortex A53 clocked at 2.0 GHz, and a quad-core cortex 73 clocked at 2.2 GHz for a total of eight cores with a maximum CPU clock speed of 2.2 GHz. This chipset is configured in a 64bit mode which allows it to run both 32 and 64bit apps and games. This also indicates that its gaming model.

Its GPU is the quad-core Mali G52 with a refresh rate of 60hz with open GL version 3.2 which is a high-performance GPU designed for Android gaming. Its GPU has Vulkan API version 1.1 support which is also another indicator that it’s a gaming model.  It has dual band 2.4+ 5GHz Wi-Fi support, and its network adapter uses Wi-Fi 6 AX technology. Its operating system is Android 11 in internally named red velvet cake and it’s rooted.

It idles around 57°C and with no ventilation holes there must be a good heatsink on the inside. It comes with all the decoders for the playback of 4K HDR videos and videos with AV1 formatting. It also shows that it surround sound audio decoders surround such as Dolby Atmos eac3 and DTS HD. However there are no Dolby vision decoders.

GT King II I/O ports

• 1 HDMI 2.1
• 1 RJ-45 gigabit LAN 1000Mbps
• 1 Optical audio
• 2 USB 3.0
• 1 USB 2.0 port
• 1 Headphone Jack
• 1 DC power input jack
• 1 MicroSD card reader

Beelink GT King II Benchmarks – Ranked number 2 

• Antutu 9.4.8 – 282,407
• CPU Geekbench 5 – 335 single-core | 1490 multicore
• GPU Wildlife Vulkan – 1073
• GPU Slingshot Extreme – 1937 
• LPDDR4 RAM Copy Speed – 6076 MB/s
• 64GB Internal Storage Speed – 89 MB/s Read | 50 MB/s Write
• Wi-Fi 6 AX Speed (154 Mbps) – 5Ghz 100% speed achieved | 2.4GHz 51% speed achieved
• GB LAN Speed – 1000 Mbps 100% speed achieved 

GT King II Pro Features

• Amlogic A311D2 Octa-Core 2.2 GHz
• 64bit architecture ABIs
• Mali G52 quad-core GPU OpenGL 3.2 Vulkan 1.1
• 8GB LPDDR4 RAM/64GB internal storage
• Dual band 2.4GHz + 5GHz Wi-Fi 6 AX
• Bluetooth 5.0 stable
• 4K HDR/HLG HDR/AV1 video playback
• Firmware rooted
• Very high benchmarks
• Superior Android gaming graphics rendering
• YouTube 4K 2160p with HDR/2160p viewport
• Bluetooth air-mouse included G10S
• Kodi/streaming APKs work
• Alternative launchers work
• Navigation bar and status bar
• Screen mirroring via Airscreen app

Cons Pending Firmware Update

• Hybrid firmware compatibility issue with 64bit Android games
• Hybrid firmware Android TV version of play store
• No root switch
• No DRM for Netflix in HD/4K
• Borderline overheating idle 69°C/gaming 85°C
• Official Miracast not working
• No Surround Sound Audio / Update needed urgently!!!!
• No built-in screen rotation
• Cannot add custom wallpapers or use live wallpapers
• Recent apps feature on the navigation bar not working

Final thoughts

I am really really impressed with the performance of this Beelink GT King II model, and the fact that it’s a 64bit chipset method or even better. It has all the right ingredients to make a good high-performance Android streaming device as well as for high performance gaming. With that said at this time Beelink has to work on a firmware update to fix some of the critical issues that can be deal breakers for persons seeking to purchase.

Until then I will reserve my recommendation whether this is the best high-performance model for year or not.

Buy Beelink GT King II US $168.61