Yeah, I agree it's suboptimal, but still 12600K has 4.9 boost clock vs 4.4 ghz, 10% difference for single threaded workload + 4 not very useful e-cores.
12400 and 12600K are two least expensive 12th gen cpus in stock, everything else is out of stock.
Initially I had 12400 in plans, but 12600K@5.2 ghz seemed to be beneficial for my workloads. Does 12400 handle 3600c18 DDR4 memory well?
I would probably go with 12400, since it's hard to justify $160 for 10% boost unless there are additional benefits. Hopefully Intel's new stock cooler isn't as terrible as they used to be.