Well actually it was yours and others questioning that got me to do the videos and more testing, which I learned something from....so thank you. Also I think vids are helpful in that unless you see it yourself you always wonder.
Jaredpace...the max gradient you will likely encounter is 26C, intel tests this under worst case conditions with stock cooling, hence if you stay 26C from tjmax, you are likely always within tcase spec (if you overclock with stock cooler you increase it, but offset it by better cooling). Once you are less than 26C from tjmax, you may or may not be in spec, depending on the loading program, hence intel states the gradient is variable and can not be used to predict tcase. But as Unclewebb has pointed out, under those situations where you are pushing the limits, to get stability you will probably need to maintain such a distance from tjmax anyways. Another way to look at it if your core is 74C...you know your Tcase is significantly lower...and at that point the rule of every 10-15C you drop your temp, you double life of your component becomes more important especially when overclocking with high voltage.
One interesting side note from all the testing, I am now sure of 6-7C (can not be more than 8 or less than 5) over ambient for high end water or air cooling at low volts, idle, speedstep on or 6x333. I can set cpu temp to exactly track IHS reading as long as I stay at idle, same tdp. No question the IHS is 3C over ambient on water and 6C over ambient with intel stock cooling. The gradient from core to IHS is max 5C at those conditions, but I am convinced it drops by 20% with intel heatsink on and high box fan speed, and more with high end cooling (max 50% decrease) . It would not surprise me if the entire gradient were halved comparing water to intel stock cooling where core is ~10-12C above ambient at those conditions with stock cooling.