Sorry to hear you did not get a good card =/ that always sucks. I ended up ordering a 980 Ti Classy from Newegg instead. They got a shipment in yesterday and I have no clue when the Strix will be in stock again. I'm sure the Strix is an awesome card, provided you get a good one. I like the look of the cooler with the 3 fans (never had a 3 fan card

and the massive heatpipes on the bottom of the card and also how pipes are hidden at the top. A gorgeous backplate and that red GPU reinforcer thing are nice additions as well. One of the biggest reasons I was interested in this card though was their extreme automation or w.e it's called, basically robots build the PCB and take human error out of the equation. Anyway I think it's still too early to tell if this really is a good card or not because so few were able to get their hands on it. Once they are re-stocked and more people get them in their machines and hopefully post some reviews we'll know more.
As for me, I ordered my classy from Newegg yesterday and it will be here tommorow. I really like the clean look of the EVGA cards. Don't see any heatpipes anywhere, just a nice shroud and heatsink. Hopefully I get a good one with high asic and no coil whine