I ended up buying an ASUS STRIX model, and have not regretted it. Initially I leaned toward the Gigabyte G1 version, but that card would barely have fit in my case, and it had no passive 0db cooling feature. So in the end, if performance is all you care about, the Gigabyte G1 is a tiny bit better and it overclocks better, but if you have problems fitting it into your case (312mm vs Asus's 280mm), or want the passive cooling under 65C then go with ASUS.
Also, coil whine seems to be an issue for many of the gtx 970s, but luckily I have not experienced any with my particular card.
And Luckily, in the EU they are able to keep up with the demand and they haven't run out of stock