Bitfenix case and fan cooling

[Waititskevin]

For the Bitfenix Prodigy, the black seems to have more airflow with the mesh front and side grill, but some of the other color case options have a window on the side (no holes) with the soft touch front. I also found out the handles are removable, this all struck me since I don't really know how the following would work.

1. The graphics card obviously needs to expel heat somewhere, if there is a flat window in front of it rather than a grill, how much does that effect the card and tower all together?

2. Say I were to put a 230mm fan in the front (behind the soft touch), even though there is no air flow would the fan still be cooling? Is the purpose diminished?

3. If I were to take off the handles and lay the tower flat on a desk (the power supply takes air from the bottom and there is a dust filter included with the case), since there is no flow there either will the supply be cool at all as long as the surface itself isn't hot?

 

[Rammy]

Answered a near identical question just now and found this too. Rather than repeat myself, here's the link to that post relating to windowed Prodigy cooling.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1990007/bitfenix-gpu-cooling-question.html
TLDR -depends on the graphics card but it'll most likely have some effect on temperatures.

A little unsure what you are asking in Q2. I think you are referring to the White/Coloured versions of the case which have a solid front. In this case, the air is draw in from vents around the front panel. Due to this impedance, the front fan will have a greater effect in the black version of the case over any of the others, but it will still be moving the air. Given how good the Prodigy is for overall airflow, I wouldn't worry too much about the front section.

Q3. Don't take off the handles. It looks like you can remove them easily, and you can, but due to the way the side panels fit, it looks incredibly messy without them and there are gaps. You can kinda see the problem here. If you want a Prodigy without handles, get a Phenom ITX or Collosus ITX. They use the same basic chassis, but have proper feet.
To answer your actual question, entirely blocking a PSU intake is probably a bad idea. It might still function perfectly fine, but there is a reason most PSUs have fans and are heavily vented - keeping them cool improves performance, longevity and efficiency.