Resolvent operator has been increasingly used to investigate turbulent flows and develop control strategies. Recently, Towne et al. (J Fluid Mech 883:A17, 2020) proposed a resolvent-based estimation (RBE) method for predicting turbulent statistics in a channel flow. In this paper, we utilize the RBE method to predict the root-mean-square (RMS) and space-time energy spectra of streamwise velocity fluctuation, where the input is the space-time energy spectra at a reference horizontal plane located in the logarithmic layer and the output is the space-time energy spectra in the buffer layer. The explicit formulas for the RBE method are given in detail for numerical implementation. The results show the capability of the RBE method in the prediction of the convection velocity and bandwidth of the space-time energy spectra. Furthermore, we make a systematic evaluation of the performance of the RBE method by varying the input configurations, including the wall-normal location of the reference plane, the inclusion or exclusion of the pressure as an input variable, the implementation approach of the pressure boundary condition, and the choice of the window function. It is found that the results of both RMS velocity and space-time energy spectra obtained from the RBE method are sensitive to the location of the reference plane. However, the pressure boundary conditions and inclusion of pressure as an input do not cause significant change in the RMS velocity and space-time energy spectra. Although it does not influence the prediction of the RMS velocity, a window function is found crucial in the RBE method for the prediction of the space-time energy spectra. Graphic abstract